Ball of Nothing

Zero wanted to cry. He never thought that riding a horse would be so scary. He'd seen the mercenaries do it and tried to replicate it so why did the horse run like it saw the devil? Zero actually fell off the horse after ten minutes simply because his muscles couldn't hold on any longer. The doctor broke a few bones but his body automatically started repairing the damage so by the time Truen and Camie caught up, he was looking a little dirty covered in dust but otherwise unharmed. The horse that went mad was found about five kilometres away and Zero hesitated to get back on it after he'd gotten used to riding with Truen.

"Don't worry, the horse won't' throw you off again if you do incorrectly this time," Camie smiled encouragingly.

Zero looked at the beast and eyed it for a long time before getting off Truen's horse. The wood elf dismounted to hold the horse reins steady for Zero to climb onto its back before handing them to the doctor.

"Remember what we said, don't startle the horse and be gentle. This is a trained horse so it should follow instructions quite well. Use your back and thigh muscles to keep yourself righted on the horse and don't pull on the reins for balance, your steed will throw you off."

Zero nodded and patted the horse's nose in apology before gently kicking the sides of the horse. The horse started in a gentle gallop and Truen mounted his horse to follow behind Zero. The doctor might not have ridden on a horse before but he was a fast learner. Within half a day of riding, Zero was now comfortable enough to ride the horse even when it galloped at its fastest speed on the straight path. Truen looked at Zero with pride and Camie smiled at the exuberant doctor who talked about the amazing feel of the wind going through his hair as the horse sped through the winding mountain path. In half a day, the party covered what would have taken them two days to walk.

"We will be at the borders in no time," Zero beamed.

Truen nodded and heated a pot of water over a campfire. The merchants really did have everything they needed for adventurers who travelled a lot. From sleeping bags and tents to pots and cooking utensils, the wood elf could only blame himself for his lack of foresight when it came to travelling. Zero wouldn't have needed to spend so much buying all these things from the merchant who sold everything he could to them with his persuasiveness. Still, it was better to have them sooner rather than later. Zero stored everything they bought in his inventory for now and told Truen that he will create a separate party inventory for them when he has the time.

As Camie helped Truen to cook lunch, Zero decided to take a look around. Truen told him not to go too far and Zero agreed. He merely wanted to check out all the marked out ingredients on his mini-map. Even on such a rocky mountain that didn't seem to have anything growing on it, there were quite a few precious items that the map prompted him to check within their camp site's vicinity.

The young doctor found many things in his short foreign trip. The mini-map function was amazing and Zero wondered how much these precious ores and gems were worth. He thought that ores and gems could only be found in mines deep underneath the mountain's surface but who knew that they could be found on the rocky surface too? With the advanced appraisal skill, Zero identified these strange rocks as crystal geodes.

While the doctor didn't know what the crystals in the geodes could do or how much they were worth, he was able to estimate their rarity levels and crystal type using the appraisal skill. Of the twelve geodes he found, five were 1-star common geodes, three were 2-star uncommon geodes, three were 3-star rare geodes and one was a 4-star very rare geode.

"Truen, I found something!" Zero announced after he returned.

Lunch was cooking in the pot and it smelled delicious, making Zero drool a little.

"What did you find?" the wood elf asked and added more fuel to the fire. Due to the lack of trees in the area, the archer had to make use of the camping supplies that the merchants sold them. Who knew that the extra firewood they bought on impulse would be so handy? Then again, Truen wouldn't be surprised that the merchants sold it to them knowing that something like this would happen. The only thing they didn't buy from the merchants was the dimensional storage bags because Zero already had a far better inventory storage system.

Zero showed them the geodes that he found and Camie recognised them instantly. "Nice find! If you sell this to my mother, you can make quite a neat profit."

"Your mother?" Zero asked. Even after knowing Camie for a while, he still didn't know much about her family.

Camie smiled and stirred the stew. "I was adopted but my parents are very kind and loving. My mother is the head artisan in the artisan workshop. She crafts everything from pottery to fletching arrows and weaving baskets. Even some tapestries used in the palace are woven by my mother's workshop. My father is the royal captain in charge of the garrisons. He can be a very strict man but he is a very loving father. I think my father still regrets that he couldn't stop the slave traders that night when I was kidnapped. The slave traders employed some powerful magicians from the United Nation of the Uncanny to bomb the outer defences and distract everyone. Nobody realised that a group of slave traders snuck in during the confusion with an invisibility enchantment to kidnap the children. They mistook me for one of the giant children and tried to kidnap me as well but I put up a fight that alerted the nearby soldiers but it was too late. By the time my father arrived the slave traders were gone."

Zero listened to Camie talk about her painful past with empathy. He gave the giantess a hug and told her not to worry. "I will find a way to save Magnus Hilda. Your job is to stay safe until you can reunite with your parents. In the meantime, could you tell me more about what these geodes do?"

Camie laughed and explained to Zero how the rocks he found could be used to create mana crystals for daily chores in Magnus Hilda. At the same time, the higher grade geodes with crystals can be used as refining materials. The dwarves often bought 4-star geodes and above to craft magic weapons. Zero didn't say anything. He had a 4-star geode but decided to keep it to himself for now. If he played his cards well, he might be able to use this 4-star geode to negotiate with the dwarves when they got to Rocket mountain in the later part of their journey.

After a satisfying lunch, the trio got onto their horses and travelled until the sun started to set. With a more familiar landscape teaching their view, Truen suggested setting champ when they arrived at the edge of the forest where they could scout for wood to build a campfire. Zero checked his map and pointed out that there would be a small river in the northeast direction and they agreed to stop there for the night.

That night, Zero offered to take the first shift of the watch. Nobody argued with him. Camie was tired after spending so much energy suppressing her true form and Truen needed a break after receiving a scare from Zero early this morning with the horse running amok.

After Truen and Camie fell asleep, Zero drew an array on the campsite to protect his sleeping friends. When Zero reached Magnus Hilda, he was going to ask for lots of parchment so that he could draw his rune arrays on them. It simply took too much time drawing a magic array for each campsite. If he had a magic talisman that he could easily duplicate, that would save a lot of time.

Satisfied with his preparations, Zero meditated and entered his mindscape. There was still unfinished business that he had to attend to. Mii and Wii were finally awake and Zero gave them their new tasks. From studying the new and old version of the map, Zero concluded that the plague in Magnus Hilda was not a virus. In fact, he suspected that Hyndla the Norse goddess of magic was somewhat responsible for it. He texted Freya to find out more about her fellow Norse gods and found out that apart from Freya who now managed Valhalla as well as all the other Norse god believers, there were no other Norse gods alive.

Prayers that were directed at the other Norse gods after their passing did not reach Freya ever since Valhalla fell to ruin. If Hyndla was the founder of Magnus Hilda and sustained that sanctuary with her powers as a goddess, then the sanctuary should have fallen apart by now since Hyndla had perished many centuries ago. The fact that Magus Hilda hasn't fallen was something Zero that puzzled the doctor. Something was preventing it from getting totally destroyed.

Zero placed both maps side by side to compare the change of territory borders over the years. The old map that the system had was dated a few hundred years back. Mystic Meadows took up almost fifty percent of the land space. Indra Seagloo was only a lake. It took a while for Zero to identify where Endow Hill was on the old map but when he did, Zero was very certain about one thing. Endow Hill, Rocket Mountain, Smargdas and Magnus Hilda once belonged to Mystic Meadows. Four out of nine continents belonged to Mystic Meadows a few hundred years ago. The new territory boundaries must have been drawn after the war concluded about fifty years back. The Great Altear Forest expanded its territory while Mystic Meadow was reduced tremendously. For some reason, Indra Seagloo's lake became an ocean that covered a third of Earth and the dark lands split into two territories namely Lycantopia and the United Nation of the Uncanny. Derby Desert was the only territory that remained unchanged throughout the conflict and Zero found that interesting.

Without taking a look at the ground situation bar the borders of Magnus Hilda and Mystic Meadows, Zero couldn't be sure about it. However, the doctor highly suspected that there was a correlation between the plague and the weakening of the sanctuary's power. Majority of the land belonged to Mystic meadows so it could be implied that Earth's original structure was built for mystical creatures. Magic was the source of Earth's life and the other races who were weaker in magic suffered. In order for other races to exist, a greater power must interfere so that they can receive support. That intervention came in the form of gods and religion was birthed. In return for prayers to increase god's power, the land will be supported by the magic of gods greater than the natural magic of Earth. However, since the fall of Hyndla and the Norse Gods, the protection over the giants have weakened and resulted in a mysterious plague. If anything, it sounded like a curse to Zero. Before Hyndla stepped in to help them, the giants didn't have the ability to shapeshift. They were only gifted with superior size and strength but it was nothing when compared to the more powerful mythical beasts that resided in Mystic Meadows.

Going by this logic, Zero was almost certain that Magnus Hilda was a land recreated by Hyndla so that it was suitable for giants to live in comfortably. Now that the goddess had passed on and her powers to sustain that recreated land had faded, the land would be reverting back to its original state as the Mystic Meadows. Zero didn't hear much about Mystic Meadows because not many people travelled deep enough into it. However, he knew that Mystic Meadows consisted of many strange terrains like poisonous fog forest, hypnotising mangroves and even fear-inducing caves. It certainly wasn't a place for the weak-hearted. The one thing Zero needed to find out was which portion of Mystic Meadows had been reformed into Magnus Hilda. Depending on what kind of effects that terrain had, Zero would have to revise his treatment strategy. But for now, the doctor was going to keep this theory to himself. He really didn't want to alarm Camie or worry her unnecessarily.