World Online

Standing up, he stretched his arms, taking deep breaths. 

"Wow. Am I actually tired? No, all this inactivity is actually making me sleepy. I need to go take a nice walk." Jake shook his head, trying to shake off the dizziness. 

He slowly walked toward the barrier, where players were patrolling the barricades. 

One of them was about to stop Jake, but hesitated seeing that it was the guild leader of one of the guilds. 

"Don\'t worry. I know what I am doing. And if something ever happens to me, then something is actually wrong." Jake chuckled as he walked past the barricade with little effort. 

Then, he slowly waked past the trees, trying to breathe in the fresh air, away from the drowsiness of the camp that was set up. 

"It is the middle of the day here. How the hell are they able to sleep so soundly?" Jake shook his head. 

The sun never set in the unknown lands after all, so it always alternated between evening or morning, and mid day. 

Walking was the sun shone through the thick cover, he could see all the dust dancing in the yellow, warm light. 

"The way they made these forests, truly wonderful. It is too bad, there are no places in the game where I can just lay down and have some rest, unless it is one of those crowded cities." Jake chuckled, shaking his head. 

As he walked forward, he paused next to one of the trees. 

There was a distinct mark on the tree, but not one that was fresh. 

It felt like this mark had been there for a few days, perhaps even a week. 

"Was there a guild that tried the expedition here a week ago? Interesting." Jake commented.

"So more than a few must have come this far. Then why the hell was our path so much more difficult, even though we were well prepared? Much better prepared than anyone else." He wondered out loud. 

"Is Maria up there adjusting the difficulty just because we were cautious? The sis way too unfair." He muttered. 

"But this is definitely the right place. If they were stopped by the single person in this path, then this is definitely the right place." Jake told himself. 

He hesitated. Now, he was split. 

There were two options for now. He could either go forward and take a look at what lay ahead, or he could turn around and back, telling everyone what he saw. 

"What is wrong with a little curiosity?" Jake chuckled as he told himself. 

Taking a few steps forward, he started looking at the trees for more such marks. He was too curious as to what lay ahead. 

Although he remembered exactly what he faced in the other unknown land in the other side of the continent, he sure as hell knew absolutely nothing about what the story line here was. 

But he remembered reading bits and pieces. None of them recounted what Jake had been through all the way till now. 

Every thing that he faced till now, it seemed original to this life. 

The game was changing and Jake knew that his rebirth was one of the big reasons why. 

Jake took his sword out in preparation. He was now heading to unknown territory, and it was a bit farther than the walk that he intended to take. He had to be perfectly prepared for this. 

Taking deep breaths, he calmed himself, taking slow and silent steps. This was not the time for haste and he knew it. 

Jake\'s eyes twinkled with excitement as he broached the perimeter of the forest. The ravine stood to the left of him, and perhaps if he took that route, he would get to his destination faster, but he would compromise his position. 

He knew now that the ravine was certainly the path that they had to follow, for it was a straight path and it led the same way that the other guild was going toward. 

"Maybe I should have asked someone how the other guild\'s campaign went in the first place? Did they actually manage to get to that bottleneck?" Jake wondered. 

"Don\'t overthink this." Jake knocked on his head as he started walking faster. 

He was sure not to make too much noise though. He didn\'t want to draw attention to him. Facing a mob, he was still just the one person. 

Peering through the trees, Jake tried to make of what lay in the horizon.

Nothing. 

All he could see were more trees. There seemed nothing awaiting him. Perhaps he was walking toward the wrong direction?

"No, there is now way this is the wrong direction. Maybe the path forks somewhere. Jake wondered. 

"How do I find out where it goes without following the ravine? I don\'t like the path at all." Jake told himself. 

All of a sudden, an idea popped up. 

"How could I forget about this?" Jake knocked himself on his head with his fist as he put his sword in storage. 

Then, he jumped on the nearest tree, hanging on to the branch that was the lowest. Using that branch, he swing himself up, finding himself a few meters above the ground. 

Swinging like a monkey, he climbed the tree higher and higher until he was near the top. 

He looked up, finding the blinding rays were trying to shut his eyes. 

Covering them, he popped out of the giant tree cover, appearing at the top of the tree. 

Looking forward, all he could see were trees. Trees and trees. 

It was like a forest, except it wasn\'t. Which forest would have only the same tree? Every single tree was the exact same height. 

But as Jake turned, slowly, he smiled. 

·ƈθm "Found it."

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