Alive?
Soren wasn't sure if he would live or die.
He had never done anything like what was about to be attempted. Not that he'd ever been that adventurous as a person. It was only recently he started wanting to explore new avenues in life and grow stronger.
Only similar things such as running away from dogs that were chasing him. That wasn't really a threat to his life though.
Soren was also mad at himself. He had repositioned his hand to the handle earlier, which created an added challenge for him now.
'Gotta try something. Besides it's not the most difficult thing I've ever done.'
A fake determination that would last only a short amount of time.
Readying himself, he took a deep breath and lifted his arm fast. His muscles constricted tightly, as essentially, he was doing a one-arm muscle up. This action jerked his body upwards so far that his head smashed right into the stone above, causing his forehead to start bleeding.
Forgetting that his strength was currently 5x as strong as he was normally, he quickly grabbed the middle of the blade, opening the mostly closed wound from last time.
His body still floated above the deadly drop, but now his hand uncomfortably holding onto the sword and his head feeling a little dizzy.
'Okay, okay, that hurt. How did I forget my strength is so much greater right now? I'm literally only holding on still because of it. Oh well. I'm alive and made it easier for the second task.'
However, before he went to that. Soren viewed the scenery again. This time he couldn't look for his starting point as that was blocked off by the mountain.
His rose tunic, slowly becoming torn and worn from life, swayed gently in the breeze.
Night had taken root in the world. Many people slept now while some were just getting up. That was how people were though. There were always opposites to each other and that went for everything.
The moon hung brightly in the sky, showcasing its control over the night. It was blessing all things with its natural light. So, while the sky, ground, and thoughts were dark, nothing was completely forsaken in the night.
That went for Soren too. The situation wasn't favorable by any means, but he could still appreciate the view from a unique observation point.
Technically he was considered rich, with so many Stats with him, but that was something he couldn't use even if he wanted to.
Having one arm wasn't a fantastic thing.
Soren put his thoughts to the back of his mind and went over the next part of his plan.
'Just have to make it. I have the strength so this shouldn't be too hard.'
He looked at the cliff edge with true determination. Him not falling to death a few minutes ago gave him the boost he needed to on the challenge.
He started swinging his body from left to right, gaining momentum. His hand that was wrapped around the blade of his sword was crazily uncomfortable and hurting.
'Come on, I got this.'
His feet started reaching near the mountain.
'Time to go.'
With that last thought, when his body swung back down and out, he pushed up with his arm. Forcing his body to climb into the air going upwards and right at the same time.
Time slowed for Soren. He was nervous but confident.
He flew through the air seemingly in slow motion. He neared the edge and reached out his hand which had found a new position. He grabbed onto the ledge, crushing his palms into the mountain as fast as possible.
Falling now would make him the joke of his entire ancestral line.
Once his body stopped swinging from left to right, he finally was allowed to think again.
'Did I make it? That wasn't that bad. I wanna sleep so bad though.'
He was tired and sore. His body hadn't slept for a long time. It was also experiencing too many high-intensity situations many times in this one day.
Following his previous action of launching his body upward. He did just that except this time, his face was not smashed in again.
No, it breathed in the air of freedom and the sight of the entire descent of the mountain.
'I'm so close. I can almost taste it.'
His 5x strength ran out.
'No matter, I'm here.' He thought while sticking his legs out to land on the cliff.
His feet plastered themselves on the ground and he walked forward in relief.
'If my strength had run out just moments before. I would have died for sure.'
He shivered slightly, not wanting to die without permission. An odd want to have.
The wind flew freely across his body, the air smelling of a winter breeze. He kneeled, still not expecting to have come back from below the cliff.
He looked around and saw mostly darkness, but the light of the moon still guided this world further.
Soren felt lost. He had done a lot to avoid the ants and now the Sunburned Mosquitoes were off somewhere else.
Alive?
'I'm sure they can handle the few ants that went after them. Probably.'
Suddenly, a feeling took a weird hold on his heart. This was strange to him.
'Do I miss them? No, that can't be it. I don't like them, except Roz. I want something in return for how I saved their lives. That Alan guy looked like he was gazing at me differently anyway.'
Another thought appeared.
'Ahh man, I still have to pay that old man back.'
Remembering something, he confirmed what he hoped was a wrong inference being made.
The ant's bodies had disappeared, most likely in the void below.
'All those Stats I couldn't grab before. Wasted.'
'Wait Stats? YES, I can use my stat upgrades now. I have so many saved up. They almost killed me, but this is what I wanted from the very start.'
He laughed by himself on the mountaintop, taking out all the Stats he had from his shirt and placing them on an even piece of ground.
With a face as happy as a child with candy he thought, 'Time to dig in.'