Half a kilometer was not all that much of a distance to cover, even as the group pushed through large number of monsters that seemed to almost spawn like creatures in a dungeon, though very much on steroids. It was only once they reached the place Rex had found that the stream of monsters slowed down considerably, starting to remind more the encounters they would have to deal in the dungeons- a group of monsters every now and then, sometimes attracting another nearby pack.

  As Rex had assumed, they came upon a small crevice in the mountain wall, forming a natural semi cave, only a few meters deep. Inside, a small pond of sorts had formed with a rather special water colour in it. The water was milky white, with a singular flowerbud rese,bling a lotus swimming in it. With the monsters cleared, Rex approached the small pond, observing the flower in any way he could, earning little in the way of info until he utilized the advantages he had due to his powerful soul. It was entirely different thing when he did so, learning quite a lot about the plant, starting from it's composition, approximate age and even the concepts that had created the plant, giving Rex plenty of knowledge about it, starting from the proper collection method all the way to how it could be used in alchemy or any other way to benefit his interests. Now, it was important to understand that there was no system or status that would explain what and how the plant should be used, no streams of knowledge transported directly into Rex's mind. Simply put, by using his soul power to inspect the lotus, Rex was almost looking at the metaphysical composition of it and then drawing from his knowledge he could infer the rest.

  "So, what is it good for?" Danica asked once Rex was done collecting the plant, stashing it away in his space storage for later use, even if he was not yet sure how or where. It was never a bad choice to have the resources in storage for am unexpected rainy day, doubly so when they were clearing out a sealed space that nobody knew would stay around once it's main treasure would be removed.

  "Alchemical ingredient. I can come up with several ways to use it, though the best use of it would be in concoctions that focused on mana recovery. It is quite potent in that particular sphere. I would need to get my hands on a great number of other herbs and ingredients to be sure. We all know I have not spent nearly enough time in specialised libraries. The one back in Solendiel had limited stuff regarding medicinal herbs and their uses, no doubt hidden in some obscure libraries of either the crown or alchemist guild or something." Rex hummed then, moving back towards the spider construct "The next stop- the mountain peak and those barely noticeable stairs."

  "And you will remain in that little throne of yours as we proceed?" asked Eve as she looked at Rex, one eyebrow raised.

  "Finally decided to join me eh?" Rex smirked as he replied.

  "As a matter of fact yes, I have decided so indeed." interjected Danica, having waited for Rex to sit before making her move. She almost pounced for Rex, landing before him on the construct's back and moments later was already nuzzled in Rex side. Rex noticed how she had quickly splashed water on her face from a gourd of her own after a quick mana surge and change clothes, feeling nice and fresh as she nuzzled in. A few moments later, Eve joined the duo as well, laying on the other side, her head plopping in Rex's lap.

  "Guess I ma going to have to work now. Oh no, the woe is me." Rex sighed in fake exasperation even as his hands moved over to caress Eves head. "Is it comfortable?" he asked as the construct started to move towards the mountaintop, whatever creatures coming in its way quickly shredded by Rex blood chains, compressed into fine steel like threads, vibrating as they were used to neatly slice Rex's opposition in the form of monsters. The chainsaw wires here back to work, showing just how versatile Rex was even in his role as crowd control.

  "There is no way the bact can do even a fraction of that." Pyra smirked as she commented, clearly already planning on teasing her teacher.

  "Don't be too hard on uncle." Emanai chided her younger sister who had been no doubt spoiled a bit by said person.

  "It's not like I'm going to eat him alive or something. Just a bit of teasing and comparisons is all. Entirely harmless." she smiled as he replied to her sister.

  "Harmless? Riiight. We both know how it will turn out in the end, just admit it you little monster." Emanai bit back, her hands assaulting Pyra's sides, mercilessly tickling the younger sister, uncontrolled giggles leaving Pyras mouth as she squirmed and fake resisted the assault. It stopped just moments later, Emanai returning to her seat entirely once again, still not feeling all too well. It seemed that she was putting up a strong front to calm Pyra more, the latter looking worriedly towards her elder sister all the time.

  "It is getting better." she smiled and spoke "Though not quite as fast as the two of us would like. We just need to be patient." she added, her gaze moving towards the mountain top where the beginning of the stairs was just barely visible.

  "What do you think we will find there?" she then asked loud enough for Rex and his ladies to hear.

  "Beats me, but we will find out soon enough, won't we?" replied Danica, receiving a hum of agreement from Eve. Emanai still waited, her eyes now locked on Rex's side as she waited for him to speak.

  Realizing that Emanai was waiting on him to speak, Rex just shrugged. "Don't know and can't be bothered to speculate. It's not like whatever is up there can even hope to be of actual use to me. Might as well play along and see just what the imagination of the owner of this place has cooked up."

  Rex answer elicited laugh from Emanai, the elven woman understanding his point of view and just how pointless it was to worry about things like that with Rex in their group. 'Is there even anything that could hope to slow him down here, not to mention an actual hurdle that could stop him? No, the best way to slow his progress would be to throw treasures at him, leading him on a wild goose chase as he collected those lesser treasures while the actual inheritance, or the main treasure gets to someone more suited to this place's owners agenda.' Emanai thought and reasoned in her mind.

  "You are indeed correct. For someone of your skill and prowess, it would indeed look like that. My apologies for the foolish question."

  "Don't sweat it. Just like you can understand my reasoning, so can I see where you are coming from. You did come here on behalf of your sect, did you not? They have no doubt spent quite a bit of resources and goodwill in helping you reach the level you are at, thus earning a great deal of loyalty and desire to return the favours you have received. I see that as a commendable trait. One should always return the kindness they have received with kindness and slight with slight."

  "And what of those men who preach of forgiving the slights received? To be the bigger person and let go?" Emanai asked once again, now looking as their mount moved forward, the chains dealing with whatever creatures rushed at them and failed to even get close.

  "Let them practise what they preach. I sure as hell don't have to, nor would I. Do that and what message do you send? You and your people are okay to be taken advantage off? Thanks, but no thanks. I want everyone to know that hurting my people will end in suffering and pain so unimaginable that the mere thought of it would extinguish any malicious ideas.There is no 'eye for an eye and the whole world will go blind' in my library. It is more like 'a single strand of hair for everything that you are and hold dear' when it comes to the safety of my people. This world is harsh, so focus on making it a better place for yourself and those around you. Do the contrary and I will have some issues with it if i happen to see that. As simple as that."

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  "So that's why you cleaned up that town!" Pyra exclaimed, explaining to Emanai shortly after what Rex had done, resulting in Pyra rushing over herself and asking Rex to help save Emanai.

  "I see. Convenient kindness indeed Something only the truly mighty can dole out wherever they go should they decide so. Shouldering the burdens of the world will only eat you alive, piece by piece until nothing is left. But this? This indeed would make the world a better place, if only in the places you have passed, but better nonetheless. And maybee, just maybee, your kindness would spread, cascading like a wave. It is a nice thought, if nothing else."

  "A nice thought, but never have I considered it that far. All I see it as if cleaning up the trash I run into. Nothing more, nothing less. On another note, I can't help but remember just how had you reached on your own. Are those paths truly that simple with no monsters in sight so long as you stick to them? Seems oddly counterproductive if one wants to have some level of tests before would be successors or inheritors reached those stairs. No offence, but I doubt you have the might to just plow through the hordes we just dealt with." Rex spoke, asking Emanai the question.

  "You are indeed correct. There is no way I could do what your group just did, not even when coupled with the rest of the core disciples of our sect. Not without suffering multiple casualties in the process. As for the safe paths, those are not as simple as just finding them. There are tests along them, much like this cave, though those could not be bypassed without clearing them first. Some are combat trials, others are puzzles and whatnot. Though nothing quite as insane as the monster hordes."

  "That makes sense." Rex nodded after listening to Emanai's explanation.

  The next few hours were relatively boring as the group continued their assent towards the peak of the mountain, the construct having little to no difficulties in maneuvering the terrain and Rex made sure no monster packs delayed them for long either. It was obvious that the largest monster density was at the foot of the mountain where the greatest number of hopefuls would gather. As one reached past the critical mass, the number of encounters went down significantly, though at the same time the monster rank grew. So much so that whatever monster group they encountered whenever they did, there was no individual creature below A rank.

  While content and happy with their place by Rex's side, swapping places among themselves on Rex's lap as he caressed their hair, both Danica and Eve jumped off the construct every now and then, exercising and spending their energy. The way they swapped was also rather obvious. Once they would swap for their place in Rex care, the one leaving happy and pleased would jump off to slaughter some creatures while the other one would end her session and take the now freed up spot.

  "Having fun?" Rex smiled and questioned as Danica returned from her round with the monsters, her head landing on his lap.

  "Mhm." Danica just hummed in response, slightly tired after her second go. Close combat fighters like her burned through a lot of energy no matter what, unlike Eve who could move just enough to keep up with the spider construct as Rex ensured her safety with his control.

  They had made great progress in such a pace, the stairs coming closer and closer as they approached. They had yet to meet any other participant, their pace and path allowing them to advance much faster than others, or so Emanai reasoned. Then again, it was only to be expected, they had a LORD candidate among them. If anything, their group could be maybee asking why were they advancing so slow, were it not obvious Endless Journey considered this whole place as a vacation of sorts, fooling around and making detours whenever Rex sensed an item of interest somewhere nearby bit off the path towards the peak. naturally, they made the detours, collecting several odd looking herbs and even a couple of gems, clearly imbued with some sort of mana or property- even Emanai and Pyra could sense something special about said gems, though they had little time to examine those, the items quickly disappearing in Rex's space storage ring.

  "Your stash must no doubt be incredibly loaded. Do you have a personalized one? Maybee bound as well? Those are rare and expensive as all hell, but definitely worth it if you ever get the chance to buy one." Emanai said at one point.

  "Hm? Oh yes. You could say that they are bound, if it means what I think it does. At any rate, the chance of me losing access to my storage space is pretty much impossible, even disregarding my strength. i have made sure of that." Rex replied, more than confident in his own space storages. He could have simply explained that he is using his own personal space storage but there was no need to do that. Neither Pyra nor Emanai were a member of his party so they were not entitled to the information, something both Eve and Danica were aware of.

  Eventually, they reached the stairs, the well crafted and beautiful construction looked brand new, though upon closer inspection it was possible to see the wear of time on the construction, though it was also quite noticeable that whoever was taking care of the cleaning duties was still around and had been taking good care of it. It was so obvious that Rex even dispersed their mount, not willing to break the well taken care of creation.

  "It is the least I can do to show my respect towards whoever is taking care of the place, even if they are no longer around, should that be the case. Spider mount would have undeniably broken it as it would have to scale the stairs and I refuse to do so. You should be fine with a normal speed climb, feels about right Emanai?"

  "Hmm. I think it should be fine, so long as we indeed stick to normal walking speed. Anything above it and I am afraid my stamina will not keep up. I still feel supremely tired after all that ordeal in the cave."

  "It is all right. Walking speed is all we should need for the time being. We also seem to have around an hour or so before the sun, or whatever light source is up there sets. Let's hope we find a clearing or anything of the like as we ascend, We will take our well deserved rest there."

  Rex received a small chorus of affirmative responses and with that confirmed, the group started their ascent up the stairs. As they climbed up, taking their time and enjoying the scenery the location provided, the sight from so high up the mountain looking quite magnificent and grand. A rather large expanse of forests, grasslands and a few lakes revealed themselves before their eyes, the lack of human construction in the area giving it a natural, almost primal feeling of untamed lands. It was only due to them having gone through some parts of said forests and fields of grass that they knew it lacked proper, ginormous primordial monsters to finalize the set. It was quite the impressive sigh regardless, something that the entire group could appreciate, their comments and praise of the scenery expressing their thoughts and impressions.

  And yet, for all the natural beauty that was before their eyes as they ascended the stairs, the human art, or whatever other race of intelligent creatures had worked on the construction, did not lack either. As the stairs were carved into the mountain, one side of them was a wall, covered in countless engravings telling a story of some sorts of its own. A humble village in the middle of nowhere, with it's people, simple and fair, doing their own thing and eeking out a decent existence in this harsh world of theirs, beating back roaming packs of creatures, salivating over their young, surviving harsh weather when mother nature deemed it time for one. As the murals went on, the village grew- first a wall surrounded it, then an expansion with another and some time later yet another wall. Their community grew and grew, more and more prosperity came unto them, until one day, someone arrived.

  A group of people from afar, rough and savage in their nature, the plain clothes and the numerous weapons they wielded indicating so, greedily looked at their prosperous nation. And then, the siege happened, the savage men returned, their numbers covering the lands all around the city, chants of anger, greed and lust thundering as the city was besieged. Devastation. Utter and absolute devastation was left in the wake of the horde as wall after wall, and the people within them fell, leaving naught but ash and corpses behind. The men were killed or chained if young enough, the women defiled and dragged along the invaders. Only once all was looted and destroyed, did the horde leave, dragging along with it all that they had claimed. And then, a while later still, from the rubble of once magnificent temple a single, solitary child crawled out, no older than his middle teens. A face full of pain, loss and pure rage etched on his face as he looked around at the devastation and rubble all around him. A line of runes, just barely glowing was inscribed below the visage of the teen.

  "I shall never rest until every single bastard of that horde is hunted down and exterminated." Rex spoke a moment after he touched the glowing runes.

  "You know the language? What is it?" asked Eve, quite intrigued.

  "It's pure intent. The runes transfer it to your mind. Touch it and feel for yourself. The anger, rage and pain that they radiate."

  A gasp leaved Eve's lips as she did so, her hand slightly trembling as she stumbled back. "So much pain, anger and rage!"

  "Would you look at that." Rex spoke, his gaze directed forward. "Our host is quite nice, providing a place to rest at such a juncture in the story." Rex pointed towards the platform to the side, leading inside the mountain, numerous quite large sized rooms appearing before them. "Let's take one and get ourselves cozy. No need to risk our safety. I will take one of the middle shifts of guard duty so you girls can have proper sleep. I need less hours either way."