Spirit Taming

Chapter 224: Entrance

Clark was quickly finding that he was not the best tracker in the world. The footprints that Alexander left behind were fairly simple at first. However, when Clark began following them. He found multiple sets of footprints that turned back on themselves in different directions. For a few seconds, he was even stuck following a look. It was insulting.

"This stupid old man!... But I need to know this." As much as Clark wanted to just curse Alexander for making this challenging, he knew that it was the best way for him to learn these skills. The harder he worked now to get to the dungeon the better. The only thing that was weighing on him was the fact that he could see rain clouds in the distance.

The scraping by the heel looks deeper here…hmmm, that means he was moving this direction." The more that Clark was checking the footprints and comparing them to some of his, the more he learned. The basic tracking that he had learned was able to advance much more when he realized how the footprint changed when the direction was taken in to account.

Furthermore, he had the added pressure of rain that would wash the prints away. Pressure was not always good but for Clark, the pressure was going to increase the rate at which he learned. With his small breakthroughs in tracking, Clark began to move faster through the higher grasses and bushes that became more prevalent. He had more or less lost the trail that they had started on.

"Where are these rocks coming from!" This was the second time Clark's foot had caught on a rock while running through the grasses. They were perfectly hidden underneath the grasses in strange places. But what didn't sit well with Clark was the fact that they were there in the first place.

"This is a field with bushes. But there are no trees like in the distance and there are rocks that should impede the growth of grass. But I don't…" an idea began to form in Clark's mind making him turn around and pull away the grass that had grown around the last rock he caught his foot on.

The rock that was revealed was definitely not just some random rock left by nature. It had faint carvings in it and seemed to have once been part of a larger structure. "This is part of a ruin. There are ruins here." Because he was on the way to a dungeon by tracking Alexander, Clark had put it all together.

Alexander had led Clark to these overgrown ruins. Now it was up to Clark to find where the dungeon was. Alexander had truly taken a hands off approach to this training. But that was fine. Clark knew he could manage this.

'Chain quest has been activated'

'Chain quest- link one, discover

The host has unlocked the hidden chain quest function by beginning the true challenge of the host's mentor; Alexander.

Requirement: discover the living stone dungeon entrance before the rain begins to fall.

Reward: second link, a hidden fact about Alexander.'

"Wait, the system has a hidden fact about Alexander!?" This sudden reward shocked Clark. This was not the same as other rewards. When he had seen the chain quest he was happy to hear that he might receive more rewards, but now he would receive a hidden fact about someone?

'The host does not need to be surprised. As the intelligence of the system has grown so has the allowances on rewards. The system has received knowledge to be given as a reward.'

"Given? Who gave it to you?" Clark was more caught off guard by the fact that someone or something provided the information.

'The host already knows that the god of creation has given all things to all beings.'

This was a common belief in the world where Clark had found himself and his second life. But to think that even this strange system was telling him that there was such a being. It was hard to grasp. Unfortunately, the next attempts to get more information did not lead anywhere. Clark was left just talking to himself in frustration.

"Fine, then I will find this dungeon." There was not much time before the rain got to him. The wind had already begun to pick up. This was just a sign that the sands of the hourglass were moving more and more.

Surveying the area while the wind swept the grasses and shrubbery around made it surprisingly easier to figure out where larger clumps of broken stone were. The piles would be slightly revealed in the wind or there would be a larger spot of grass that didn't shift the same in the wind. Therefore, Clark ran toward the largest pile he could.

This all would have been fine. The course of action would have been logical and led Clark to discover the dungeon entrance he believed would be associated with the largest pile of stone that he could make out near him. Well, that would all be the case if he didn't find himself falling through the air in to a darker and darker environment.

Wind whipped past Clark's face as he picked up speed only to feel a bone chilling cold wrap around his body. Water rushed in to his mouth and nose while he gasped in shock. The only thing Clark could do was force his hands to scoop through the water to get to the surface, or where he thought the surface was.

Luckily, he was rewarded by managing to break the surface again and spit out the mouthfuls of water he had swallowed.

Being in such cold water was not exactly a good thing. Clark had already managed to gather that he had fallen in to some sort of cave and that there was a massive pool of water below it that had saved his life. However, his heart was still beating faster than he could handle and the adrenaline was keeping him in panic mode.

After quickly struggling to the rocky edge of the pool and climbing up, Clark drew his spear from the spatial ring to attack anything around him that was waiting for him, to let his guard down. The moments were tense before Clark fully realized that all the cave had was him and his echoes. The soft drops of water on stone coming from the very water dripping off his clothing.

"Who am I to judge what kids do for fun nowadays? Jumping from up there is definitely more of a rush than taking the rope ladder I have set up there." Alexander's calm words echo through the cave as well. "Although, I just wonder why you wanted to deal with wet clothes at the start of a dungeon?"

Out of annoyance, Clark nearly yelled at Alexander who was sitting on the opposite end of the pond. But Clark realized that if he yelled he would sound even more foolish. If he argued that he had fallen and not even noticed the ladder. He shouldn't have blindly run toward the pile of stones. They were from the fallen in ceiling of this cave and Clark hadn't even considered this to be the case.

"Well? Get changed so you can enter the dungeon the longer you wait the harder it will be and the more annoyed I will be." Alexander made a waving motion for Clark to hurry up with it. Naturally, Clark changed as quickly as he could while praising himself for always having a spare change of clothing with him.

It was an important lesson his parents had drilled in to him whenever they would go on a day trip together.

Once Clark had walked around to the opposite side of the pool, he was able to glimpse the colors of the walls. There were old paintings on the walls of the cave. They had been worn by nature but was still somewhat clear.

"The cultists of the church of living stone used to draw their ideal world on the walls of this cave. It's fitting that they found a dungeon with stone like beasts within a cave. It fit their twisted ideals perfectly. I can only imagine what they would be like if they found that medusa dungeon near the ocean and not this one." Alexander seemed to know a great deal about the world.

Clark often wondered how experienced Alexander truly was in battle.

"The host has discovered the living stone dungeon. The first link had fallen in place. The hidden information about the host's mentor, Alexander, will be automatically absorbed within the host's mind. The second link is being held back to ease the host's absorption.'

Clark felt as if a needle had been inserted in to his brain. He began to see what he could only imagine was a ghost's perspective of the world. Of the very same cave that Alexander and Clark were standing in. However, what he saw was not what he would expect from this cave. He saw it very, very differently from what it was now.