‘A flag has been risen!’ I screamed in my mind. But then I realized the log was just crossing the road on its way from the local watering hole. And apparently having a bad day, because the moment it whipped its tongue out and detected our presence it rushed towards us in a zigzag pattern like we stole its money, woman and booze at the same time!

Quickly checking the positions of everyone in the group I noticed a couple of things. First all the adventurers hired by the caravan leader were heading to position themselves between the caravan and the snake. And second, even though Buck was standing still, he was well trained after all, his eyes were locked on the incoming threat like a missile guiding system. Or rather like the eyes of a beggar on a sack full of gold weights and delicious food.

I looked at him for another second and poked gramps to receive his attention.

When he looked my way I pointed to Buck and he equipped an evil smile.

“Go!” a single word is all he said and it wasn’t even loud. But as soon as Buck heard it he flew like lightning, faster than any cannonball ever and dashed past the adventurers before they had all gathered at the front yet.

Then I realized something. ‘Isn’t this sort of cannibalism? And why are you even looking at it with eyes like you’ve hit jackpot, you don’t even need to eat, you greedy dog!’

‘I guess you’re closer to a lizard, than you are to a snake, aren’t you, Buck?’ And with that thought the cannibalism accusation was lifted.

‘Still greedy though. It’s part of most dogs nature, huh?’ Memory thought.

What the adventurers party saw was like a dream. Part scary, part inspirational dream, but still fantastical in a sense. The two-headed hound travelling with the caravan, in just two jumps, was at their backs and with a third already flying high above their heads on the shortest route to the huge mountain python. In the next moment it was already in front of it and preparing to leap for the base of its head.

The snake also, in its delusion, prepared to attack by pulling its head and the upper part of its body back, making it taller.

But the moment it was ready to attack the dog changed strategies and dashed for the forest, making sure the snake was following it.

It seems the reptile had decided it must kill that dog before its free to enjoy a good lunch, because it tried it follow it. But very soon it was unpleasantly surprised. The moment a big enough tree was near the two-headed dog, it jumped towards it. And then it jumped back using the trunk as a support beam and with a widely open mouths took huge bites on both sides of the python neck.

A shrill sound akin to metal grinding against metal sounded in the ravine as the dogs teeth tried to puncture the snake scales. But then a small fountain sprayed blood in the right mouth of the dog.

When the dog’s paws landed on the ground it started tossing its heads, with the snake still clutched in between its sharp teeth to the sides.

After a bit the python had clearly lost a lot of blood, strength and its will to live, because it was just hanging limply from the mighty jaws from with blood and drool dripped on the forest floor.

It let the snake fall on the ground, but in the nick of a time it jawed at its neck next. A loud sound of bones breaking was heard.

With a satisfied gait and the bountiful prey it had caught it headed back for its masters.

Memory was almost as stunned as everyone else, but recovered quite quickly than them. After all she had spent more than a month with Buck and knew some of the things he was capable of.

‘You’re a lot smarter than I gave you credit for.’ I thought.

As Buck landed the huge corpse in front of me I noticed he desperately needs a good bath, so I asked gramps to take him to the river for a quick dip in the water. We were back shortly only to see small crystals being extracted from the carcass. When I asked what it was gramps told me it was the reason why the mountain python scales are so hard.

Turned out those crystals usually had the ability to draw in mana from different parts of the rocks, ore veins, mineral pockets and so on, and store it in the snake scales to strengthen them. A cousin of the mountain pythons uses its ability to work on its camouflage instead.

By humans the crystal could be used for strengthening mining tools directly by embedding them in the instrument directly, using a special technique. Or by other type of crafters they could be supplied with mana as they originally were to either craft new parts, or coat or strengthen already existing items. The applications varied greatly, but the crystals were essential for either of the methods so there were indeed valuable.

Conveniently there were some merchants nearby. So after splitting ten percent of the crystals among the extra hands who helped collect them, the rest was traded to the merchants after keeping another ten percent for my request to grandpa.

‘This would certainly add to Bucks selling price once we reach the capital. Not every dog owner can say they have such a good hunter at their house.’

Together with the removal of the crystals the snake was also skinned, sliced, salted and smoked. We won't be lacking in diversity for a while. Of course everyone was rewarded according to the amount of effort they’ve put. But even with our mid-sized group everyone walked away with definitely enough meat to last them to the next town.

The night came quickly in the ravine and everyone tired from all the work during the day slowly set up camp. Today we hadn’t made much forward progress, but we were at least guaranteed a delicious meal for a while after. The group members as a whole had gotten somewhat closer to each other during the day and my grandpa was already sipping alcohol with members of the adventurer’s party and some of the more weathered merchants.

I on the other hand was examining the newly acquired sparkly things.

‘Can’t you mount this on a ring and go around earth or metal bending with it while hissing how precious it is?’ I wondered.

Grail must have noticed me sitting on my own, staring into my palm, because he popped up out of nowhere and invited me to join the small party going on around a big campfire.

I politely refused and curiously asked him what he would do with his portion of the loot.

“I haven’t really thought much of it yet.” he said. “Maybe leave them for now and see if they can be useful at the Magic Academy or if not I’m sure there will be a lot of people willing to relieve me of them.”

“Oh? What would you make out of those, if you had the know-how how to do it?” Memory asked.

“Well… maybe build some scientific instruments? I don’t know. How about you?” Grail returned the question.

The two of them sat there discussing what-ifs and would-bes until everyone around the campfire had decided its time to hit the deck.

The night was young, but the eyelids of the group had grown weary, some from the ale, some from heated discussions, but the main culprit was of course the snake that had the misfortune to meet them.

Memory went to tent her grandpa had set up for her, curled under the blankets and with a smile drifted to sleep.

Ren got out of the angular capsule and stretched. He has been dreaming of being a girl for the bigger half of the day now, but it wasn’t uncomfortable at all for some reason.

‘Maybe that perverted God or whatever he or she was, knows what they’re doing?’

Since it was dinner time on this end too, I helped my mom cook something up, set up the table and make a sauce for the baked fish. A pleasant meal followed after everything was either cooked, mixed or set.

Afterwards I went back to my room with a certain dilemma on my mind.

‘Playing Worlds equals sleeping. That means I’ve been sleeping all day, I should just go back to bed, be it virtual or not.’

So instead I decided to do some research on things I could do in Worlds. Science, fighting, travelling, all sorts of things were readily available for me it turns out, all I must do to get to them is really, just wish hard enough.

‘Again, hardly any different than how it is on this side. Looks like the creators of Worlds took their job seriously and stuck to the original purpose of games.’

For those who do not know. Games are simplified versions of real life problems. They’re supposed to teach us how to deal with certain situations, or how to think in certain ways about given problems.

The Internet also suggested I some points in wisdom, figurative speaking, and refresh what I know about science, math and people.

‘Isn’t this two thirds Magic-Academy-requirements and one third being-a-member-of-society?’ I questioned.

‘The designers at DreamTech have really outdone themselves…’

Ren still didn’t feel like going through the wardrobe, back to the magical kingdom. So instead he reviewed physics up to Newton’s laws and some chemistry in addition to that. After that he enjoyed a few mindless hours of old cartoons, music and other relics of the past.

Time passed, the magic spell was broken, Ren lost the other shoe and with a crisply jerk of his wrist, cast an unlocking charm on the door leading to the big fluffy dog.

With a single “Nox.” the ambient lights in the pod darkened and darkness surrounded him.

Once again he was drifting through empty space, and this time too, he witnessed the birth of the universe, followed by a strong pull. Soon enough he was getting up from between the blankets, or rather Memory was.

Everyone was already up and about when Memory emerged from the tent. Even though the majority of the ravine was in shadow during this time of the day there was enough time to prepare breakfast, wash up in the nearby river and start gathering the tents.

Breakfast was for the most part last night's leftovers with some freshly picked fruits and berries. By the time Memory was done eating everyone was ready to resume marching again.

Around lunchtime they again stopped at a clearing and had a quick meal, after which resumed their journey. Nighttime came, tents popped from the ground around a bit fire and after dinner people crawled in them to rest.

This pattern repeated itself a few times until a certain morning. Memory had taken a quick dip in a slightly deeper part of the river to cleanse herself from the accumulated impurities and headed back to camp. On the way she passed Grail who was also heading to the river. Her hair in a ponytail with sparkling droplets of water, like morning dew on her bangs. After Grail came back from the river he wa still a bit panther colored. And an additional tent was put away that dawn.

A few days after that accident. They walked out of the narrow path and into a big bowl section in the mountain with a lake at the bottom and a small village visible to the side of it.

Since it was still midday when they arrived they decided to just quickly restock on food and other necessities and be on their way.

The village roughly marked the halfway point of the mountain pass.

‘Therefore in good humor it was named, Halffull.’ Memory thought in a joking matter.

In truth the village name was Redemption. And it is unknown who exactly picked the name or if it’s not just another joke, but it is as it is.

On the second day the group noticed the river was flowing the wrong way, instead to the east as it has been going up until now, it was going towards the west, in the same direction they were headed.

Memory then learned the headstream was located somewhere to the south of Redemption village and the river splits at the lake they passed, flowing to either side of the Forsaken Mountain Range.

‘Rather than a boundary river, shouldn’t it be more of a split river or something?’ I wondered. I never claimed to be a professional namer so I put the matter to rest.

After more than a week with the merchants and Grail the conversational topics had somewhat dwindled. Therefore I decided to spend today reading the journal I bought back at Noren.

Surprisingly it had managed to evade me all this time since the day I bought it.

Letting the pages fall quickly, one after another producing a small air current I noticed the book was riddled with sketches and drawings of flowers and other plant types. I even noticed a few things that resembled plant monsters.

Throwing the book back on its rear end I snapped it open on the first page and started reading.

This self-proclaimed core botanists and explorer

will soon be embarking on a journey to bag and tag,

all the little green things he, who will venture

in the depths of mountains, forests and

exotic climates, comes across.

The one and only…

‘This author sure has a flair for the dramatic. No wonder he doesn’t sell very well.’ I thought.

The more I read the more I was astonished at how well everything was written. Ignoring all the drama of course. What was probably a walk in the garden was described as an epic of a thousand generations to get a single strand of some super secret special ingredient for something that later it turned out to be hairloss potion. But again, drama aside, the plant qualities, shape, traits, characteristics, features and where it can be usually found were described in great detail without any additional drama.

‘At least he takes his hobby seriously.’ I thought.

As I continued reading during the day with the special skills I’ve developed on the other side, by the means of reading excess amounts of fanfiction, I was able to sift through quite a few interesting entries.

There was a flower named Dream Whisperer by the author for the ability of its pollen to either put unfortunate one who has inhaled too much of it to eternal sleep, or at least cause some hallucinations that would disorient the victim to stick around to be laid down to its early grave.

The life juices of another would act as super strong aphrodisiac for the one who has consumed them during the daylight or bright-time, and as manhood rocket fuel during the dark hours for the period of a whole week. Apparently the flower contains a mechanism to absorbs starlight mana and produce things the flower needs, but according to the the description in humans instead the produce causes the effects mentioned earlier.

The overdramatic author had managed to find also a happy moss, the longer you stay in contact with it, the better you’d feel, a rubber tree, the sap of which behaved just like rubber would, and many others, and she hadn’t even halved the book yet.

‘Buying this was really steal, wasn’t it?’ Memory happily thought.

One afternoon after nearly a full week the troop noticed the air getting hotter and the tall rocks on either side of the ravine diverging, later the same day they understood why when a great view greeted them when they took a turn suddenly found themselves out of the pass.

The star twins hung above the horizon in the late summer and the air near the border between the sky and the ground was shimmering from the hot air climbing for the cloudless sky. In radius next to where the river went there was a carpet of purple and green grass and trees, beyond them was

Memory noticed everyone aside from Grail and her wasn’t nearly as impressed by the prospect of traversing the arid desert. She must’ve misinterpreted everyone’s reaction in the past as first-timers struck in wonder, when they’ve just been ones pleased with their current situation at the coolest part of the journey.

‘They are merchants going to the capital and the adventurer’s accompanying them after all.’ she thought.

Memory, probably as any other summer child, loved the hot weather and the heat. Especially as there was a cool stream nearby you can dip yourself in whenever your body dries up from the last time you submerge yourself.

After they completely exited the ravine a town welcomed them and after half a month since they left Neren they finally slept in comfortable beds again.

A very chilly air greeted me in the inn room we stayed that night.

‘I never thought in my life would I ever need three layers of blankets in the middle of summer.’ I thought while getting up and really quickly dressing up and used one of the blankets as a skirt and another as a mix between a poncho and a cape.

My grandfather was already downstairs talking to Grail about something when I walked in in the multipurpose room that served as a mess hall, a tavern as well as a lobby. Even though it was still quite early the place was nearly full. People talking and eating, and planning, and leaving.

I strolled up the table grandpa and Grail were seated and greeted them.

“Good morning.” I said.

“Morning, Memory.” Grail said and grandpa pitched in with a grunt.

“Something wrong?” I asked him.

“The horses might have trouble with the sand, I’m debating swapping them for something more desert friendly. I heard they have some sort of lizards we can use” gramps said.

“I guess we better change them after all. They weren’t bred for weather so hot. Up north and so far they served me very well, but with the change of environment we must adapt or perish.” continued my grandpa with someone dark atmosphere.

“So we’ll be going lizard shopping later?” I asked.

“Seems so.” he answered.

“Grail will join us?” I asked them both.

“I will.” the young man said.

As we informed the merchant’s group we discovered they had already made arrangements to do the same thing we were about to. They even recommended a renown animal trader to us.

As the first half of the binary star fully rose above the mountain the temperature quickly started climbing.

When we arrived at the animal shop sand colored rows of eyes greeted us. And when I say ‘sand colored’ I mean the purplish sand the desert seems to have a of. We started looking around when a short man popped out from behind a freshly open door.

“Hello. How may I be of assistance?” he man asked.

“We would like to make a trade. These three in exchange for three of yours.” my grandpa gestured to the rows of purple-eyed green lizards.

The short man narrowed his eyes a bit and plunged into deep thought. After a while he raised his head again saying.

“The three horses, especially the cold breed ones would sell one, so I don’t have any problem with a straight one to one exchange, but the last one seems a bit thin and not up to standard. How about you throw in another hundred and sixty imperials with it and I’ll even remodel the carts to fit the lizard harnesses myself?” the storekeeper said.

My grandpa looked towards Grail. The young man looked somewhat unhappy about the offer. He opened his mouth and said.

“Would it be alright to outfit another carriage for the same price?” he asked.

“Of course.” quickly said the merchant.

Grail turned back to my grandpa and asked him. “Would it be alright to split the price two to one?” he said hopefully, but without putting too much faith in the outcome.

It looks like my grandpa took pity on him, because he agreed without saying much. He just turned to the merchant and said. “One hundred and forty, you keep my horses until we come back and I’ll return two of the lizards and another sixty Imperials for holding on my animals until them.” he said at the merchant who quickly considered it and agreed.

‘Returning customers are desired, huh.’ I thought to myself.

We headed back to the inn with the horses to bring the waggons for the outfitting. After that was taken care of and work on them was ongoing, the three of us decided to go around town and check what they have up for sale.

‘When did those two get this close?’ I wondered while walking between my grandpa, on the left, and Grail on my right.

‘I look like a rich girl with young servant and a butler named Sebastian. Because all butlers are called that way.’ I snickered.

There were various stalls offering diverse assortment of varied trinkets, rattletraps, jewelry and others. At one point Grail disappeared off to somewhere and when he returned he was carrying two boxes, one long and narrow, about a span in length and another one like miniature chest with intricate woodcarvings all over it. He stretched his arms towards us with the words. “This… is a thank you for inviting and allowing me to travel with you two and to aid you with remembering in the future this meeting and this trip we’re sharing right now.” he said while still stretching a hand towards each of us and a slightly pinkish shade creeping up his face.

The arm stretched out toward my grandpa was the one holding the narrow bow while the small chest was handed to me. When I opened it, I won’t lie, I was a bit disappointed to find it completely empty. It looks like it showed on my face, because the next moment a part of silvery earrings with a small purple stone were sitting in it happily jingling against each other.

My grandpa received a pipe. Yup a real-life old fashioned pipe. I learned on this side it's more often used similar to incense sticks, just lighting it up, sip a few gulps of smoke from it and let the rest of the contents burn themselves out. It also is filled with some relaxation dust or something rather than tobacco or other stronger substances. It’s not like people haven’t found ways to misuse it, it’s just not widespread among the general population in the Empire.

I still couldn’t stop giggling at the pipe for a while longer. Imagining my grandpa sitting on a rocking chair on the front porch piping the afternoon away was simply impossible.

‘The butler with wrestling champion physique who looked ready to tackle a dragon any moment and didn’t have any plans to die in the next few hundreds of years, sitting on a porch, rocking time away.’ just thinking of that sent me in another giggling fit.

===

AN: Another day, another story.