23 Perplexity and feathers

When it came to exploration, surprises were absolutely inevitable. In other words, it was hard to predict what could happen.

In this case, the couple of friends somehow ended up on the second mountain! Well, not on top of it of course. They just found themselves on the landscape's lower portions, but still, it felt like a big surprise to wind up here.

This progress raised a bit of their morale, but the actual journey was still tiresome. It had taken them another full day to reach this new environment, so surely mount triangulum's size could not be underestimated.

"This place gotta be made by some god... I mean look, how can a root be this big!" William pressured.

He wasn't one who believed in those sorts of things, but this new life helped understand that anything was possible.

However, Olivia felt conflicted about the god concept. And it only took her a moment to express her light frustration.

She mumbled, "Gods wouldn't want to hurt us snakes... right? So this place was probably made by a demon, everything here is so angry!"

The boy wanted to unleash a cloud of controversial comments about that matter, but he understood that medieval people couldn't possibly comprehend his debate. That and he was exhausted as well, so this topic wasn't worth the headache.

Which was why he agreed, "Yeah, you're probably right. Demons are bad, very bad."

Anyway, the tree root which William referred to earlier, was right above their heads, it stretched across the massive tunnel's ceiling. From the looks of it, this natural woodwork behaved like a firm backbone, it held that muddy place in tact.

The sight itself was marvelous, especially since this abnormality of nature was forty-meters thick, and only the divine knew how long it stretched.

"Everything here is on growth steroids, I swear." William thought, subconsciously.

Although the scene was amazing, these two had to focus on their prime goal. To do that, they had to step into the second mountain.

As it was well decided earlier on, they were on the lookout for those odd pyramids that enforced peace. For that matter, exploration was crucial.

Any progress was acceptable, even if they just camped near the tunnel's exit. From the looks of it, they might have to.

Olivia slightly encouraged this idea, as she sighed. "My legs feel like they're gonna fall off, why is this place so big...? I hate it here."

"Pretty sure I'm gonna die if we keep walking," William cooperatively added.

They were blessed by the excessively green features of this second mountain, but were far too tired to observe its beauty. Which was why they had to focus towards survival.

For that matter, the lady pressured. "We gotta sleep, it's not like we found anything anyway."

"I love that idea, but it's too early. The sun is still out." The younger one reminded.

Quite bluntly, the lady demanded. "I don't care! Let's find some food so we don't starve to death, and then we're gonna sleep."

"We...?" William poked, and stretched a devious smile.

Irritation grew across the other's face, but her throat was too dry to yell.

So with a faint tone, she demanded. "You're too young for all that, boy. Now shut it and go kill some bug with your mind powers, or whatever you do."

"Making me do all the hunting now, ha?" He joked, but the lady was too tired to respond.

Now, with distractions out of the way, he could focus towards their needs, which was why he stalked the area for a victim to fry. William's goal was transparent, but this environment didn't want to play nice.

The second mountain was simply overwhelmed with greenery. Trees commonly stretched over ten meters tall around here, and there were a few which crossed the thirty meter scale!

Algae, vines and ivy patches were plentiful as well; they made up for a third of the vegetation here. In short words, this landscape looked like a dense rainforest!

Clearly, this place was nothing like the tunnel they left behind. The ecosystem here was thick, which caused the main problem; around here, it was difficult to land a neuro-shock!

He had to see and focus on a target in order to successfully shoot, but the environment here provided more than enough camouflage for any species!

Surely, these aspects proved troublesome already. He could only imagine how tough any other challenges would be.

...

It took them a while to find some food. The wildlife here was expansive for sure, but so was the vegetation's density. It was surely tricky to find a target, but they managed.

The meal wasn't exactly ideal, William found and brain-fried a stone-scaled worm.

Even Olivia was picky for once, she critiqued. "Ewww, you really want us to eat that?"

"I couldn't find anything else! Besides, you probably know how to cook this slippery shit." He insisted.

"Guh... we'll make it work." The brunette sighed.

They got ready to lift this raw meal, but also observed its characteristics.

Surely the features were interesting, especially since the name of this worm was contradictory. Scaled animals couldn't be considered worms, that's not how biology worked yet the name remained.

This thing looked more like a snake rather than a worm, as it was grey and stretched a whole two-meters long! Surely uncharacteristic for a boneless invertebrate.

However, neither of the snakezoids were worried about the creature's name right now. They were occupied as the carcass was truly massive, so it was tiresome to drag this meal around.

Unsurprisingly, William complained. "Come help me pull this sloppy thing, I'm gonna die if I do this alone!"

"Hold on hold on," She sighed and leaped over to lend a hand.

Either one had the right to be grumpy, this animal had to be around forty kilos! Clearly, it wasn't named after a stone just metaphorically.

Eventually, the brunette decided to grab this creature by its weird head, which consisted of two, small horns.

These pointy things seemed useless but were actually lethal in any battle. The worm used them as weapons, to bash countless holes into its prey. But in this case, these horns behaved more like handles.

However, while these friends struggled with the silver beast, the system decided to flash a few notifications on the boy's face. This wasn't perhaps the best time for statistics, but who could order otherwise?

[The prior kill has earned you a hundred system points,] She first announced.

And then specified, [You now have a total of fifteen-hundred and fifty-five system points to your disposition.]

This reward felt inadequate, so William had to pressure. "Only a hundred for this slimy bastard?"

In an instant, the advanced lady casually answered. [You killed a creature which was almost empty inside, it doesn't have any organs or bones. And its brain is equal to that of a small, mud frog's.]

[There's no scam here, you didn't kill an advanced animal, size doesn't necessarily equal to complexion.] Such a sentence felt like a taunt, but it didn't steer away from reality.

The carcass in question was named after a worm, so one couldn't expect much from such a creature.

Anyway, these couple of friends continued to put in their bit of work, and eventually harvested what was edible.

The invertebrate's lower body was almost completely usable. Sure, some portions had to be filtered out, like its stomach since it was over-flown with acid, but the rest was harvested. They attained fifteen kilograms of meat!

"Guh... this is what I missed." Olivia sighed.

The scent of fresh meat got her hungry already, but she tried to resist. Cooked food gave away more energy so it was worth the wait.

Likewise they had to get a fire going, as even in this odd world, fire sustained life! It took them an hour to sizzle a small portion of worm flesh, but it was worth it, especially since this meal was abnormally nutritious.

Apart from the countless waves of protein, this fried delicacy also fulfilled the need for water.

Typically, snakezoids didn't have to drink much liquids, they could survive from a meaty meal. But in this case, the fat-filled characteristics of this carcass showered them with a good drink.

In exchange, the couple of friends felt more refreshed than ever, but they still felt how their consciousness faded away. Sleep was their grand crave, so submission towards it was the inevitable.

...

Confusion was an ongoing emotion through mount triangulum, and once more the snakezoids were struck by it.

As their eyes were forced open by the sun's rays, their attention was enslaved by several docile creatures. Each of these animals carried a different body colour, and ranged in different sizes.

However, the problem here was that even Olivia didn't recognize this species, especially since they portrayed somewhat intelligent behaviour.

"Not again... I can't fight this early in the morning." William complained.

"Shut up, be quiet." The lady whispered.

There was a lot to be nervous about, a flock of large owls had surrounded the couple of friends.

Yet, size wasn't the main part that confused them, no. What actually frightened the snakes, was how these creatures had a human-like form!

Sure these birds noticeably had wings as well, but they also carried a pair of arms and legs!

A two meter tall albino owl, which was possibly the largest feathery animal of this group, proved that theory of intelligence. It stepped forward and mumbled through a few thick, and manly words.

"What do here? This not home for snakes." The white bird pressured.