Chapter 8 - Cj's Challenge

Cj went into the forest hoping to find his destination at record time. A Tree with different color leaves is rare to see but not impossible. The more Cj thought about the clue he was given he couldn't help but laugh.

"What colors am I looking for?" thought Cj. He looks above his head and saw a drone flying near him with a camera attached. The drone moved silently so it was hard to notice until now. Cj was being watched by the Golden Circle at all times.

"32 hours remain. I have plenty of time" Cj reassured himself.

Half of Apsychos Island is full of trees. Cj didn't have the time or the energy to look at every tree until he finds the right one. Three hours of looking around already made him gasp for air. You could hear the wheezing from Cj's throat. "If I keep this up I'll get an asthma attack," said Cj worriedly. He sat under a tree and went inside his backpack. He emptied his bags thinking about decreasing the weight he needs to carry. "Medicines and antidotes important, Enhancement Drug very important, binoculars important, food and water also important. I don't need six knives. I'll keep one" said Cj exhausted. His vision was blurry and he couldn't think straight. In the end, Cj decided to take a nap under the tree after packing his bag. "I should feel better after I wake up. It's funny how I'm short on oxygen when I'm in a forest. What would the professor say?"

Coughs! Coughs! Coughs!

"How strange? This shouldn't be happening to me"

Miya was watching Cj from inside the Private Room underground. A drone was above Cj recording his actions live to the Golden Circle. Ronald asked, "Who's the man sleeping?"

Miya covered her face embarrassed to answer. "That guy is called Cj. That's the name he goes by but I don't it's his real name" said Miya. She stared at the monitor screen sweating all over. "I... He's in danger. I can't let him go on in the condition he's in. I didn't know he was asthmatic. My apologies" Miya apologized to Ronald. Her father patted her on the head and disagreed with her decision.

"Nonsense! The first round has only just begun. Do you already feel like giving up? You have no desire for the Dragon's Liquid do you" said King Almon disappointedly. Miya pointed at Cj with her hands shivering. "I didn't bring this man to die of exhaustion. I wanted him to win sure but it's not worth his life. I'll feel guilty" said Miya. Gordon slapped Miya upside the head.

"The hell! What's that for?" asked Miya.

"You want him to pass the first round. You don't want him to die trying. Why did you bring him here?"

"Make Cj continue. Unlike you who gave up on him rather quickly after realizing he is asthmatic Cj still believes in himself. He knows his condition way more than you do but he hasn't thrown in the towel. Taking him out of the game when it just began is the biggest insult you could ever give him. Miya, I don't know what you're seeing on the screen but from what I can tell your friend Cj is fine" Gordon whispered in Miya's ears. The princess's doubt was still up in the air. She wished she knew more about Cj and his background before the Dragon Hunt began.

"The way how we met was a huge mess. He stepped on my shoe in a restaurant I don't remember the name of. I knew it was an accident but I still picked a fight with him. The fight led to me being trapped in his basement for eleven days with no food or shower. Cj isn't his real name. I don't know his real intentions for accepting my offer and he's hiding his gift from me for some reason. Why did he kill Professor Jupiter? Have I made a mistake by picking this man? I chose him because it was convenient that he had a gift just like me" thought Miya. She sat beside Ronald and watched Cj while he was sleeping.

Two hours later Cj smelled ink while he was still sleeping. The scent agitated his nose so he woke up and scratched it. That's when he saw a bald man inside a yellow robe standing before him with a marker in his hand. "Hehehehe, I almost finished my masterpiece. Why did you have to wake up?" the man grinned. He gave Cj a piece of glass for him to see his face. Skulls were drawn with a blue ink marker.

Coughs! Coughs!

Cj quickly went inside his backpack and took three different pills that weren't labeled. The bald-headed man stood before Cj wondering when he's going to get acknowledged. "Do you like my art?" the man asked. Cj took some deep breaths looking relieved that his wheezing has stopped. "Aaah, wonder what time it is" Cj said looking at his watch.

"2:10 pm. No more time to waste" sighed Cj.

"My name is Oden Darby. What do you think of my art?" the man asked trying to get Cj's attention. Cj stood up and dusted off his clothes. He walked away waving Oden goodbye. "How rude," Oden thought. The ink on Cj's face was annoying but he quickly adapted to it after walking for a few minutes. "Like I said earlier. I can't look at every tree with the time I have been given I must find a way to narrow down the location" said Cj.

A Tree with Different Colours

After thinking about what he should do Cj came to a conclusion. He took out his binoculars and started climbing a tree. He has little experience with climbing so he failed on his first attempt. Climbing a tree was like trying to walk for the first time. Cj applied too much weight on the branches so they snap and causes him to fall. He told himself "I am not going to take another step until I climb this tree"

Cj tried climbing one three so many times all the branches that were close to the ground snapped. Cj scratched his head worryingly. He can't shake the feeling that if he doesn't learn to climb a tree then his search is futile. Cj moved on to another tree and climbed.

Snap!

The branch Cj was holding onto suddenly broke in two causing him to fall on his backpack. He checked to see if his items are damaged. "Wait, can I use knives?" he suddenly thought. Instead of holding the knife from branch to branch, he could use his two knives to climb up. "The Pain, The Sweat, and The Body are the very essences of hard work is what Professor use to tell me," said Cj. He tried climbing the tree again and this time he made it almost to the top. He looked down and saw how he was 16 meters from the ground. "I can't risk falling now. I am going to make it. The time I spent here will be worth it" said Cj excited. He picked up the pace and started stabbing the knives in the tree faster than he was a minute ago.

"I'm about to make it. Yesss, I'm-"

Without warning, Cj's right hand gave up on him at the crucial moment. He knew the pain his hands were under but he overestimated his endurance. Even if he had made it to the top he would have fallen off because of exhaustion. "Oh shit!" he shouted. Cj fell from the tree with his heart racing dangerously fast. He left his knives stuck high up on the tree by accident. Cj stared at his knives instead of looking down. "If I can walk after this fall I'm just going to search by foot" sighed Cj.

BAAAAAM!

Cj never expected to be unscathed from the fall he just had. He fell right in someone's arms just in the nick of time. Cj looked at the person who caught him and recognized the face but sadly didn't remember the name. The man was bald and in a yellow robe. "Good you helped me...Bye" said Cj bluntly.

"I just saved your life. The least you can do is have a conversation with me" said the bald man.

"What's your name again?" asked Cj curiously.

"Oden Darby! I saw you trying to climb a tree and failed. I'm starting to think I should have let you fall" said Oden. Cj went inside his backpack and gave Oden a prize for saving him. He gave Oden two loaves of bread with an upsetting look on his face. "Hmm, now I don't owe you a thing. From the look of things, you don't have any food on you. Now please go away. I can't take another ink on my face" said Cj.

Oden accepted the food. "Before I go I would like to help you climb this tree. I don't get why you're wasting time climbing instead of searching for your destination but hey it must be important right" said Oden.

"How can you help?" asked Cj. Cj has no choice but to accept Oden's offer to help even if he didn't want to. He lost both his knives and his hands are extremely tired from all the climbing. "I can give you zero gravity for two minutes. You should reach the top of one of these trees by then" said Oden confidently. Cj gulped at how excellent that sounded. "He'll Yes, I didn't know you had a gift. Wanna know mine?" said Cj happily.

"Sure what is it?" asked Oden.

"After you help me" replied Cj.

Oden punched Cj in the fast by surprise. "Oww! Come here!" shouted Cj angrily. He ran up to Oden ready to punch him but his body began to float up in the air. Cj felt as if he was lighter than a balloon. He made it safely on top of a tree and held on to it. He took a seat on a strong and sturdy branch he knew wouldn't break even if he jumped on it and slapped his face.

"I forgot the Binoculars," said Cj.

"Oden! Throw me my Binoculars. It's in my bag" shouted Cj. Oden looked inside Cj's bag and was surprised by the number of items in there. There were bottles of many colors. Green, white, orange, red, purple, and yellow. Oden asked, "What's all this?"

"I, telling you would defeat the purpose of not labeling them. Hurry up and throw me the binoculars. Get out my bag too" said Cj strongly. Oden threw the binoculars high up for Cj to catch. "Finally, things are starting to look good on my end" smiled Cj.

"My eyes are special. I can see up to 4kilometres if I really focus. With these binoculars, my range will be multiplied by 10. A tree with different colors should definitely stand out from the rest. I can't miss it" said Cj. Not one leaf escaped Cj's sight. He alone knows the true range of his gift. Cj never experienced an ambushed or a surprise visit ever since he got his gift. The eyes that can see all. The makeup of living and non-living objects, his far range and sharp accuracy, and his trick with the binoculars just make it more lethal. Cj can scout an entire city if he wanted to. There is a drawback to his far-range vision. When Cj is looking at something far away he doesn't pay attention to what's happening close to him.

After ten minutes of looking Cj found a Tree that had three different colors. "Green, yellow and blue. That's definitely the one" said Cj. Every tree had the same green tree at the bottom and the top except for one. One tree has yellow and blue leaves at the very top almost impossible to see if you're not on high grounds. "North-east from here. 211 km away" said Cj. Oden was still in Cj's bag smelling the liquid inside his bottles. He climbed down the tree carefully and grabbed his bag away from Oden.

"Thanks, Oden. If it weren't for you I would never have found that tree. I don't like owing people so I'll pay you back by finding your destination. Tell me what it is" said Cj happily. Oden gladly gave Cj his piece of paper.

"Boiling Water" Cj read out loud.

"It's not located in the forest I'm well aware," said Oden. Cj patted his shoulder and told him he's in luck. "I know where this place is. I found it on my way to the cave yesterday" said Cj.

"Go back to the cave where we all started and head southwest of it. You'll leave the forest quickly in that direction and see the boiling water. Good luck, better know your way back" advised Cj. Oden nodded in reply and headed out. At the end of the day, Cj and Oden went their separate ways. When night arrived Cj was already at his location taking a long-needed nap.

Miya was surprised to see this turn of events. "How did he find the tree with just a pair of binoculars," King Almon asked out loud. She replied "He once said that his eyes are perfect. Maybe that has something to do with it" replied Miya.

"Regardless he's going to die if he stays asleep. The other competitor who got the same location as him will be arriving there within two hours or less. He should be setting a trap, not napping" said a monk in the Golden Circle.