Chapter 120: Vacation (3)

When Rino woke up, there were still a few more hours to sunrise. Hence, he withdrew the map from his shadow sack and congratulated himself for remaining in one piece over the night.

The map wasn't very accurate, and Rino could tell that the scale was wrong after travelling the distance between Spudville to the mountain ranges. Even if they took a wrong turn at the start if the sylphs were right about the time required to travel to the mountain ranges from Cypress County, the distance from Spudville to the mountains were much further.

When Rino found the swamp, it was already a few hours away by flying and several days on foot for those without magic powers. He could not imagine the number of days those who could not fly or teleport needed to get this far. Maybe they would have died in an attempt to make it to where Rino was because everything in this jungle following the path of the meandering river will try to kill.

He still had no idea about those air jellyfishes if they were friend or foe because he had no idea what they did. However, it was better to err on the safe side than assume mortals will escape them unscathed.

Although nothing could be done now that the map was already drawn, Rino could still use it as a rough guide for his present location to plot the rest of his journey. In one day, he travelled from the southeast of his territory to the southwest, following the river. At this rate, he should reach the mountains in two more days if he did not become sidetracked.

There was another intersecting river on the map close to the mountain range, and honestly, Rino wanted to find civilisation at some point. In his previous world, most settlements were found near drinkable water sources. Water was synonymous with life for the longest time.

Although the fairies did not mention much about what lay beyond the rocky mountain range, Rino suspected there should be something interesting on the other side of this mountain barrier. After all, they informed him that the mountain was covered full of salt rocks, unique to the terrain.

Rino had a guess about what was waiting for him past those mountains, although he knew that the river would start to thin out a little to a flatter grassland that spanned more than a week's travel on foot. Ideally, that flatland was good for farming and small peaceful civilisation. It was most ideal for rearing livestock and building a huge residential estate for a growing population. The location was free from natural threats on the map, and Rino wondered if the hilly area was full of shepherds. Rino could pretend that it was paradise in a mortal world that he lacked ever since his death for a little while.

On a more serious note, the sylphs warned him about a miasma filled land past the peaceful meadows that Rino should stay clear from. It was a cesspit full of negative energy that they dare not venture into. However, as a lich born from darkness, Rino was tempted to make that contaminated land his kingdom's capital for the undead citizens. For now, he marked that out on the map and pondered over the eastern land past the hilly meadows.

Rino could understand a swamp near the lake he found close to Spudville. He could understand a slightly dead and sparsely grown land devoid of greenery except for the occasional low shrubs and needle-like trees. The ground was also covered with more rocks than soil past the swamps, according to the scouts. However, the same terrain was found close to the eastern side of his territory, close to the sea. Rino could not understand that. In his world, it was usually sandy near seas and oceans. Was that not common in this world?

Studying the map in greater detail, Rino traced a finger across the river from the mountains splitting and running through the plains to meet the sea. The fairies told him that there were two seas and two oceans surrounding his territory, but only one interested him.

Towards the south, past Cypress County, was a white ocean where the water was white from many seafoam crashing onto the rocky shoreline. The water there was bitter, and it was freezing, according to the fairies who were there. Rino did not question how they knew this, but he wasn't against holidaying on a business trip. After all, he was guilty of such activities in his past life when acting as a delegate for official negotiations.

On the opposite side of his territory, the Blue Ocean was sweet-tasting but also very cold. The Blue Ocean was brimming with life forms underneath that were rumoured to be delicious, although the sweet-tasting ocean water could cause mortals to hallucinate. In small doses, it was considered recreational. In large amounts, it could cause death. Not all hallucinations were good, and Rino had no idea if the same thing would happen to undead who drank it.

The sea that contained salt was the sea on the opposite side of the rocky mountain ranges where the breeze carrying Death Sea salt would stop by. Nobody knew what was beyond the Death Sea, but the fairies on scouting duties reported stretches of sandy beaches on the opposite side of the mountain range after peeking. They weren't able to explore more because they were on a tight timeline, so Rino did not blame them. He could explore it himself.

The last sea was the one Rino was most interested in on the opposite side of the Death Sea. Rino did not know why the locals called it the black sea because the water wasn't black. In fact, it had many shades of blue in different parts of the sea. The most ominous parts of the Black Sea had to be that strange mist cloud that never dispersed from across the edge of the rocky shoreline. It was very far from Rino and the fairies who observed it for several weeks claimed that the mist sometimes thinned out but never moved.

A few water sprites tried to explore the mist but returned empty-handed. Nobody knew what was there, but Rino told them to return and stop exploring just in case something terrible happened. Yet, it did not deter Rino from putting the strange mist location in the Black Sea as part of his exploration checkpoints. Then again, he might have figured out why it was called the Black Sea. While the water was salty there, much like the Death Sea, the water within the mist was black.

Nobody knew if it was black from the lack of sunlight passing through the mist or the natural colour of the water. However, the name stuck, and Rino tucked his map away.

The sun was finally up. It was time to resume their journey through this dangerous forest.