"You're a kind person. That will bite you someday."
Shun just shrugged his shoulders like it wasn't a big problem. "I'm not worried."
Silence lingered as they watched the snow for a few more minutes. Shun got absorbed in his thoughts. It was unknown what was in his head.
Soon, the snow died down. The clouds cleared and the sunlight embraced the earth once more. The ground returned to its original state.
Following that, Shun took a step after some hesitation. His feet didn't feel anything. He sighed in relief and shouted at Akira, "It's safe now."
Akira jumped off the bedroom stall and approached Shun. She eyed Micchan briefly before returning her gaze to Shun.
"That phenomenon caused most of the animals to die. We're going to have a hard time with food."
"I'm aware, but certainly some animals sought shelter and are safe. We can hunt those instead."
"And where might these animals be?" Akira asked.
The field was as empty as barren land, with only charred corpses of animals.
"Do you think the layout of this place is similar to the one in the Dream Realm?"
"I'm not sure. I never went out of the city. I spent most of the time inside." She crossed her arms.
"We should explore the area more. What do you think?"
Akira pinched her chin. "We'd need a map."
Shun snapped his fingers. "The library should have it."
"No need. I can guide you," Micchan abruptly suggested, leaving the two surprised.
"You know the area?" Shun asked.
"Just now." She nodded.
Just now? Shun recited inwardly.
"Is your other ability like looking for information in a search engine?"
Micchan seemed to hesitate before saying, "Since you saved me, I guess there's no problem in sharing it. Yes, but only as long as it is related to the Tower and this floor. Outside of that, it is impossible."
"So you know everything about this floor?" Shun pondered.
"Perhaps." She then took a step. The rest followed just behind her.
"So you know about that phenomenon?"
"No." She shook her head. "Unless I am actively looking for it, I won't know."
Shun grunted in acknowledgement and changed the topic. "Where are we going?"
"To the edge of the land."
"The sea? We're near the sea?"
"You will understand."
Shun didn't continue talking. They followed Micchan in silence.
It was an hour's walk from the camp, and then they arrived.
As they were hunters whose bodies had been evolved by the system to be stronger than normal humans, a mere hour's walk was nothing. It didn't tire them.
Before them was a clean body of water with fish swimming along, and in the distance, they saw a silhouette of an island.
Around them were trees as far as the eye could see. The crown of shade gave some protection from the sun.
"Is the water safe to consume?" Shun crouched and saw his reflection in the water.
"If you want to hurt your stomach, then be my guest." Micchan replied as she sat on a boulder.
"Why did you lead us here?" Akira asked suspiciously.
She pointed at the water. "Food."
Akira was speechless for a moment before saying, "Is there anything else you want to show us? Surely an hour's walk isn't just for this."
"Sorry to disappoint you, but this is what you can find."
Shun got up and turned his head to her. "Can you draw us a map of this place, Micchan?"
Micchan leapt off the boulder and started drawing with a stick she found nearby.
She drew an island with the city in the middle and four landmarks around it.
She wrote 'You are here' on the left side of the map, on the edge to be precise.
Shun glanced at the other landmarks. They seemed to be a desert, mountain ranges, a swamp, and a jungle.
He was amazed by such an island having so many biomes at once, and the mountain range…
Turning his head to where the mountain range should be, he didn't see anything. It bewildered him.
"The area is protected by magic. The mountain range is a highly dangerous area. It is better to be hidden lest any dumb souls are brave enough to explore it." Micchan said as though she read his mind.
"How do you know what I was thinking?"
"Well, it's obvious." Micchan smiled mysteriously.
Shun didn't delve further and shifted his eyes back to the map. He looked at Akira, and she was already snapping pictures of it. He smiled faintly and looked back to the map.
When all of a sudden, a line of thought appeared in his mind:
'Why do all of these biomes exist? What purpose do they serve when most of the time we spend will be in the Dream Realm? And once we finish the temple, we wouldn't even know they existed.
No, thinking about it… if not for that phenomenon, we wouldn't be actively exploring the area.'
Shun believed it was akin to how games have certain locations and cities. It had a purpose, and if it didn't, it wouldn't be accessible.
Following this line of thought, he continued inwardly, tapping his chin. 'But to reach other biomes would require days of walking. Why would we spend more time here than in the Dream Realm to complete our quest?'
He then sighed and cast those thoughts aside. There was no need to spend his already small processing power on this. He might find the answer later on.
Shifting his focus to something important, he asked, "Is there a treasure in each of these biomes?"
"Yes," replied Micchan casually.
And the answer to the question he had just cast aside revealed itself. Then Shun let out a long hum as he fell into deep thought.
'If the treasure is worth slowing the progress, it must be one heck of a treasure. Wait, following this logic, doesn't that mean there's one where we are right now?'
Shun looked around and became discouraged when he saw the endless trees and land stretching far. It would take years to find it if he had no clue where it might be hiding, and looking for it mindlessly was pointless.
"It's just a waste of time."
After he said those words, his mind retraced what he learned—the reason why the biomes existed, to be precise.
'So these biomes are akin to mini stages where one can find a treasure.'
He imprinted that into his mind and moved on.
"I've been meaning to ask you for a while. Are there other hunters? Where are they? How come I never see one?"
Micchan pointed at the island.
"The island?"
Shun was flabbergasted and pinched his chin. He remembered that each hunter had their version of Alden. This led to the belief each hunter was assigned a city no different from Shun's, with its own limitations.
"Shun, there's someone." Akira tapped his shoulder.