[Year 2, Day 2... The next day.]

[Nighttime, several minutes after midnight.]

POV – Tobias

Everything.

Apparently, everything can go wrong.

We immediately ran into a fire elemental… It ambushed us somehow and shot flames at Rin… and although Rin dealt with it managed to destroy my bag in the process.

I really liked that bag.

Not to mention, everything inside it…

All my rations… gone.

Weeks worth of preparation.

All gone.

I wanna cry.

Why didn’t Rin simply reload it?

How the hell am I going to carry things now?

Well… actually, I don’t have much to carry anymore.

Everything burned up… beside my artifacts, which I’ve attached to my belt.

Then, there are the minuscule fire sprites... which are honestly, extremely annoying.

Although, sprites might be the wrong word.

Basically, they’re tiny sparks of flame that seem to constantly be attracted to me.

They doesn’t seem to be bothering Rin… but, they’re annoying and burn my skin wherever they touch it.

Imagine tiny mosquitos that leave burn marks instead of bites.

Then, imagine you’re in a muddy swamp with mosquitos everywhere.

…And that’s basically it.

Except, it’s probably around ten times worse than your imagining… and a hundred times more annoying.

If I didn’t have constant regeneration, I’d be completely covered in burns.

Rin hasn’t been speaking to me.

Although, I suppose that isn’t particularly strange… but, I assumed Rin would at least attempt to interrogate me on the earlier commotion.

Not that I planned on answering anything… Actually, didn’t she reload earlier?

Maybe, she already realized I wasn’t going to answer her questions, and decided to not bother asking.

… or it’s possible I already answered her questions.

Damn. Time travel makes interactions annoying... my subpar social skills probably aren't helping either…

Even though it’s nighttime, those fire sprites are lighting up the darkness… although, they don’t actually provide much light.

Merely enough to barely see by.

I suppose the only beneficial thing that’s occurred is finding that fire rabbit… or was it a hare?

Whatever.

It was a bunny-like creature. I managed to sneak up on it and kill it to feed God-hunter.

I couldn’t eat it though.

Not for lack of trying.

When I attempted to eat it, I ended up with a 2^nd degree burn on my tongue.

Revenge even in death, I suppose.

I somewhat envy Rin’s ability to eat effectively anything.

It’s especially useful in an environment like this.

… and probably most future environments as well.

Actually, where are we heading?

… I mean, it’s toward the volcano range… but, why there?

Does she have something specifically in mind?

POV Swap – Rin

The Third Zone… I’m finally back.

Despite some… difficulties.

Sending a glance toward Tobias.

How inconsiderate can he be... staring at me after my clothes had burned up.

Can’t he be slightly more conscious of his surroundings?

He’s even constantly attracting baby fire elementals with his mana.

Fortunately, this zone will be significantly easier than last time. After consuming that fire dragon’s heart, I’ve obtained near perfect fire immunity.

Tobias also seemed to be holding out relatively well… at least, in comparison to when I arrived here initially without preparations.

Is his regenerative factor that helpful?

Apparently, Tobias has some fancy refilling canteen artifact.

Which solves the initial rush to collect specific herbs for water.

Meaning that, instead of rushing to acquire water, we’re going to collect armor/clothing.

Armor should make everything significantly easier. Especially considering it’s risky to head outside the desert zone before acquiring it.

Plus… I need new clothes. Tobias’ clothes aren’t exactly a long-term solution.

We should also be traveling at night when possible.

Night doesn’t last longer than a seven hours on this planet.

In this desert, it’s easier to deal with the baby fire elementals during the night than the larger monsters during the day.

…The monsters that appear during the day tend to have annoying powers that take awhile to deal with.

Unfortunately, this is going to be a long journey.

We’ve got to reach the mountains, then pass through to the other side of them.

[Year 2, Day 34… Around thirty days later.]

POV Swap – Tobias

That desert was massive… and definitely not lifeless.

We’ve only just reached the edge of it and have finally reached the volcanoes.

It was extremely rough travelling for the first few days.

It’s fortunate, that I don’t have to worry about food because of the world-tree tattoo.

I would've had trouble finding food in this desert without it.

Especially, between being disturbed by various fire monsters and dealing with the fire sprites.

It wasn’t until Rin questioned why I wasn’t retracting my mana from the surroundings that life began to improve.

I… I didn’t even know that was possible.

Apparently, that’s why the fire sprites were ignoring her…

The problem was actually learning how to actually do that.

Still, I managed to figure that out over the course of the journey... Although, I still have to be completely focusing on it in order to maintain it.

Over the traveling, my clothes have become badly burned from all various fire monsters we’ve had to deal with.

Literally in rags.

I had to take back my shirt back from Rin… She’s been using her remaining clothes from her bag. Open patches everywhere on them.

Ugh… this zone’s miserable.

It’s too uncomfortable walking about due to the heat.

We’ve basically completely run out of most supplies and have been entirely reliant on my <Recharging Canteen of Spiritual Recovery> for water… but, it’s barely enough for one person nevermind two.

Due to lack of water, my throats constantly sore.

Almost all the fire monsters have been spotting me despite my unnoticed ability.

I think it’s only been effective on a few monsters throughout the entire journey.

Which is frustrating in it’s own right… but, more importantly, why is it taking so long to rank up?

<Ability: The Unnoticed Active: become unperceivable for 0.5 seconds, Cooldown 24 hours, Passive: goes unnoticed unless specifically looked for by most living things. [Rank 8, 73%] >

It’s only rank 8… Why is it this so slow to improve? My basilisk’s manual is already level 4.

I mean, I haven’t been hunting particularly powerful monsters… but, I thought The Unnoticed would be faster to improve considering it’s a rather specific ability.

The more limited and specific a growing ability is, the faster it should grow.

Gah, so irritating…

It wasn’t really a problem in the previous zone… but, it needs to improve to be useful in this zone.

Besides traveling, this entire journey has been rather boring.

And it took a month!

Actually, slightly longer than a month! In comparison, using airplanes on earth, travelling around the entire planet only took a day or two.

I can’t even talk to Rin normally because my throat constantly sore due to the lack of water.

*Sigh.* Whatever.

“Rin, where exactly are we actually heading?” I probed through my sore throat hoping for some information.

“… Over that mountain.” Rin voiced quietly gesturing to a mountain to the north-east.

…What? Why?

There’s nothing beside a massive lake of lava on the other side… at least, I didn’t include anything else there in the story.

Staring upward at the various mountains. Lava sputtered out of a nearby volcano…

Oh, yea… I’m sure this is a brilliant idea. There’s definitely water over there (sarcasm)…

*Sigh.* Damn it. Fine, let’s go.

I hope this isn’t a waste of time.

[Year 2, Day 52… Eighteen days later.]

Apparently Rin already knew a decent path over the mountain…

It didn’t actually take that long to reach where we were going… whatever this place actually is.

The massive lava lake/ocean is still here... But, there's also a giant double-door on the cliff-side.

It’s probably a temple.

I hope it has some water… or clothes.

Or both.

Actually, hopefully it has both.

Letting Rin lead the way allows me provides me the opportunity to study her reactions.

Unlike her face, which is usually expressionless, her wolf-ears usually tell a more accurate story. Flickering around at anything she’s focusing on.

… It’s definitely not because I simply like staring at them.

Definitely not.

*Cough*

Rin seems to be entirely focused on the door… I wonder when she was here before.

She had to have been here before… she led us right to it.

Rin turned around and stared at me strangely…

Uhh… What?

She wants me to go first, doesn’t she?

Damn it.

Fine.

You better save me if this ends up killing me.

Heading up toward the doors, I pushed on it.

But… It’s too heavy to open.

Staring back at Rin, I studied her expression... or more accurately, her wolf-ears.

Her left ear was pointed toward me, the other was pointed toward the far side right-door.

Is something interest is over there?

Focusing my search on the right-door…

Specifically searching the area her ears were pointing, I found a some runic letters.

… I still can’t read.

I really have to ask Rin to teach me at some point.

Learning a new language is kinda difficult though.

Crap, I also forgot to search for a soul defense expert in the residential zone.

Gah… Why am I only remembering this now?

Whatever, I probably couldn’t have learned anything from a soul defense expert. Even if I’d found them, not with the short period of time I had available.

Staring back at Rin for more clues… this time Rin’s ears were focusing on the left-side of the door.

Okay, left-side it is.

Briefly searching, I found something with several tiles that seemed to be movable… Is this some type of puzzle?

Rin, are you kidding?

Can’t you solve it yourself.

Turning around, I found Rin standing right behind my right shoulder.

Backing up toward the door… When did she get so close?

Bumping into the door, I stopped moving backward.

Attempting to keep an embarrassed expression off of my face, I turned back toward the puzzle.

It probably won’t hurt to try it.

‘Probably’ because this is Hell Difficulty… I wouldn’t exactly trust that this puzzle isn’t part of some elaborate trap.

… Does Rin already know how to solve this puzzle?

Probably.

Glancing back at Rin…

She’s still standing uncomfortably close to my right shoulder… she doesn’t seem particularly inclined to solving this puzzle.

Wonderful.

Well… Trail and error to figure out the rules worked in the tutorial. It’s possible it’ll work now.

I playing around with the tiles for a bit… it seems that after moving three tiles everything resets.

I could move them as far as I liked, but… if I let go, it counted as a move.

What’s the goal then?

Searching around, I found wires like designs on some tiles… Seems there is also an entrance and exit wire.

Okay… so, I have three moves to make the wires line up toward the entrance and exit.

That… doesn’t seem too hard.

Like a mobile's puzzle game or something.

Kinda weird to be doing it in real life, but… whatever.

Playing around for another few minutes, I quickly realized the crux of the puzzle.

You can move two pieces at once.

One with each hand… as long as you don’t let go, it doesn’t count as a move.

Simple enough, if you think about it…

…But, if you’re used to puzzles games that prevent you from moving more than one piece at once… it’s becomes somewhat difficult to wrap your head around.

Spending another few minutes testing different possibilities, I completed the puzzle and the door lit up along the wires.

Haha, I did it. Rin praise my genius!

Turning back around toward Rin.

But… I didn’t receive any praise.

Instead, Rin seemed genuinely confused.

… Did I do something wrong?

Glancing back at the puzzle, I realized the doors hadn’t opened.

What? I completed it?

Does it not open the door?

Wait… only the left-side has lit up.

Is there another puzzle on the right-side?

I didn’t spot any before?

Glancing back toward the right-side of the door.

Ugh… Annoying.

Searching the right-door more closely. I couldn’t find anything, besides the runic letters.

Does Rin know I can’t read?

Well… I suppose that I can read, just not this language.

I decided it’s best to simply calling her over to ask for a translation… My pride in not asking for help isn’t to the point of stupidity.

It seems I hadn’t informed Rin of my illiteracy in the past as she seemed genuinely confused.

But, she read aloud the instructions anyway.

Basically, it summed up to the rules I’d figured out on the previous puzzle… save for moving two pieces at once if you didn’t let go.

Well… that’s useless.

Why hasn’t the door opened? Did I break something?

More closely examining the wires of light, I realized that they simply weren’t connecting to the right door.

The left-side door seemed slightly ajar… Is that causing a problem in the circuitry?

Attempting to pull the door back into alignment.

I realized that the door was much lighter now… do I even need to light up both doors actually?

Pushing on the door further it opened easily.

Well, that’s one way to fix a bug.

Bypass it entirely.

Gazing back at Rin, she simply shrugged back at me.

Come on, I totally solved that puzzle.

Ask me about it.

I wanna brag.

Then! Then, I fixed the problem with the door! Praise me…

Rin ignored my non-vocal pleas and walked past me into the temple(?).

*Sigh…* I get no appreciation for anything I do.

Whatever… I was still totally badass and solved it extraordinarily quickly.

I didn’t even get spoon-fed the rules.

...I guess... I guess I should follow after Rin.