Chapter 5: Mountain path⁸

";oh, just the way you order" the old man at the stand asked in a curious tone.

"yes, exactly the way we order it, it must have a nice texture after all its important"

"right, right" the old man said nodding his head along as Eldred made the special order of a weird combination.

"it must be soft around the edges and must be lumpy in some parts."

"unique choice" the old man said"but how about the flavor"

" peanutbutter and coffee with strawberry topping ... oh and a slice of banana"

As Eldred made the order, Ulf was wondeing why in gods name would he want to order such a thing but when he tried to stop the order and ask for something more simpler Silas stopped him.

"you don't have to eat it"Silas whispered as he held Ulf back.

After everyone received the yogurt, the man started up a conversation about where would be the best place to eat such a unique order, and of course Silas and Eldred picked up on what he meant but Ulf tried to move away and even going as far to mutter"who in their right minds would eat this"

He shortly receive and elbow to his side from Silas,"shut up you nincompoop"

"thank you for the advice" Eldred said to the old man as he heard the arguing," sorry about my friend he doesn't know good taste"

Walking towards the location where is just a few miles from the beach, Eldred took his time and explain the whole deal with the yogurt order.

"you mean it was just a code"

"yeah any one could have figure it out" Silas replied as the mountain path came into view but the problem was there was multiple paths going off into different directions.

Eldred didn't expect any less from the Hunter exams, you couldn't tell what was going to happen; he could say that great confidence that at least 2 of the 5 paths would lead to the location while the rest would just be filled with traps or lead no where.

As the path came about the group had to make a decision, Ulf wanted to go straight up 'cuz going directly is always right"

Silas wanted to take the further most left path because he felt that it was right, being the last one Eldred either had to make a choice of his own or chose one of their's

Eldred unable to make a quick decision he drooped down to the floor and looked at the 5 paths carefully and after a while he notices that each of them is slightly different.

the first and second one looked like a new path, while the third and last looked older and for the fourth it was somewhere in between old and new.

The ground had signs that it is regularly used but the trees and bushes on the side are on the path while some looked like they were recently cut.

' the first two should be a no go, the path straight up seem to be the original but it would be easier to set traps on an existing path'

"Ulf have you ever been on a hike or grow up in the country" Eldred asked as he never been on a hike and grew up in a urban area.

"no, born and grow york new city" Ulf replied in a proud tone as he point to the middle path" but i'm sure of it, the the middle is the right way"

Silas who had been quiet for a while looked at the middle path,"Eldred you chose"

"We're taking the middle path" Eldred said walking ahead of the group.

Eldred had chose the middle path mainly due to the off feeling he started to get from some of the other paths, he felt that the fourth path was safe but the middle one would give them a better chance.

And he was indeed right, the first path lead around the mountain the second one was filled with the most traps, of course they all had traps but the middle and fourth was the safest path followed by the last one.

Along the way Eldred kept an eye our for traps and any sign that they were animals that would harm them but they were none in sight.

seven minutes along the path Eldred and was in front of Ulf as sometimes his trembling would start, he would trip on roots of the trees and quickly regain balance.

This time when Eldred stepped on a smooth peace of ground where there was minimum vegetation the trees and everything else started to move up, he was was falling into a pit trap but luckily he turned around in time to grab onto the edge of the large hole.

Unfortunately of Silas, he couldn't react in time and Ulf was a bit slow on the grab but never the less Ulf still stretched his hands out in a quick motion grabbing onto the back Silas beach pants.

"Ahh HURRY pull me up" Silas shouted as the beach pants fabric pulled tightly againsy his back giving him a wedgie

Ulf didn't notice this and pulled him up by his pants saving him from a pit trap that is filled with snakes.

"i gotta be more care full" Eldred mutter as they walked around the pit trap, but Silas wasn't walking he was preforming a walking lunge as he tried to get the uncomfortable feeling to go away.

"hurry up" Ulf said

"its your fault i got a Wedgie !!" Silas shouted as jumped up from his lunge,"you could have grabbed me by the shirt"

Ulf had nothing to say, even though it's fun watching Silas as he tried to get comfortable again but he couldn't as Ulf had indeed tried to grab his shirt yet he had missed as he didn't gage the distance right.

It was more like he couldn't tell the distance and missed by a few cm, if Silas wasn't leaning forward the short spikes on the bottom of the pit would have definitely injured him(the spikes is not long enough to kill, unless you are extremely unlucky).

For the rest of the way up the mountain the group became cautious and dodged various traps and animals,

At the top of the mountain there is a large hanger that a made out of metal, there was rusting at some areas.

When the group approached the hanger, a short man with weirdly shape head walked out of a tent that was set up so you can only see it if your're close enough,"Good afternoon, contestants i am Beans"

After everyone introduce themselves Beans took out three badges, 377,378,379, Eldred took the 377, Ulf took the 378.

"now come on this way to the exams" Beans said leading the group to the hanger and stepped onto a small box so he can reach the door handle," i wish you the best of luck"