I would take one step at a time, and I would only think or concentrate about that one step ahead of me. I would not worry about anything two steps ahead. I would not let myself get to that state of doubt and insecurity where I would question myself.
I continued to climb the rock face in front of me as I slowly maneuvered to the side, in the end the vertical rock wall didn't provide enough edges or cracks for me to climb straight-up and I was forced to zigzag from side to side.
This took a lot more time and effort but it was the only way.
As I had stopped thinking and only focused on the edge that was in front of me, I eventually came to the realization that nearly two hours had passed. I had traveled nearly two-hundred feet in the past two hours and was now sitting at another ledge; this one much wider than the previous one.
At four feet wide I could actually sprawl out and lie comfortably without fear of rolling off the edge if I so much as turned around. I had made significant progress but the daylight had now ceased to be as I found myself some eight-hundred feet above the base with snow fall and gusts of wind a constant torment.
The only easy day was yesterday, after all.
After eating some beef jerky to stabilize my virtual body's hunger and provide enough fuel to keep me from freezing, I entered the logout sequence.
It was time for some real food and rest.
My vision faded in the weird way a dream fades as you wake up from your slumber. It was a trippy feeling knowing that you were just playing a virtual reality game only to have it end with you waking up from a dream. It was a surreal type of feeling and I still hadn't gotten used to it after over a year of playing since the Alpha and Beta phase of testing started.
I wasn't sure if I would ever get used to it, really. I was also a little worried about what would happen if I had started to dream in real life, of my virtual life.
Thankfully that had yet to happen to me but there were a few people that did experience that, and they all had widely varying responses and opinions on it.
Well, no one had lost their mind yet so I suppose that was a good sign.
The lights inside The Cube had started to turn on, bringing the pitch-black room to a dim-white so as not to hurt the eyes. While the lights went through their sequence of adjustment I started to remove the headgear along with all of the flat metal discs they called electrodes that were attached via circular suction pads.
As I understood it, those were what made Dragon's Wrath possible.
Having detached everything from my head, chest, and fingers all that was left was the harness that held me in place. The six-point harness was similar to one you would find in a race car except much more comfortable and not quite as strong.
The idea wasn't to keep you from flying out of a windshield at 100+MPH after all, but was meant to just keep you in-place while on the chair in case you had an involuntary movement.
After removing the harness the lights in The Cube had now reached full illumination, matching the light outside of the room so my eyes would be properly acclimated. They had really thought about everything. I was now ready to leave my little gaming station.
Exiting The Cube and walking over to the kitchen, I peered into the fridge hoping to find something that I knew didn't exist. I opened both the fridge and freezer doors at the same time but found nothing of interest like I had already known.
There was nothing really in there, but I still opened the doors anyways. Maybe it was a force of habit, maybe I was secretly wishing someone else had bought food for me, or maybe I was just a little crazy. There was nothing to be had so I decided to clean up instead; it looked like I was going to have to leave the house in order to eat today.
Chapter 12: Return to the Face
(Wednesday, February 10th Game Day / Thursday, January 14th Real Day)
As the login process commenced I soon found myself in the bitter cold, shaking and freezing on a random ledge somewhere along the mountainside.
Maybe if I had slept near a fire I would have been alright, but there were no trees on this side of the mountain.
There was no shrubbery at all.
Just rock, a little bit of snow where it could accumulate, and more rock.
Looking down at the rest of the rocks below I could only help but think that the entire thing looked like a series of steps for a giant. The rock faces were staggered about in such a way that the designers must have been aiming for that kind of look.
If one came from the north and viewed the mountain while facing south, you would have seen what looked like massive stone walls hundreds to thousands of feet high in a stepping stone formation. If you came from the easterly slope and faced west, you would see the gradual slope of a normal mountain... nothing too out of the ordinary.
But if you were on the western side of things, it looked a bit like a dragon's body that was curled up with the tail extended out through the river.
It was a beautiful mountain really; beautiful but deadly.
Looking up against my better judgment I soon saw that I had quite the distance to cover and less than four hours of light to do so. In the dark of night it would be impossible to scale the mountain, so I had to press forward as fast as I physically could while the daylight burned.
Tossing a piece of jerky into my mouth I soon started pacing along the ledge that I was on, looking for the best route to ascend.
Lucky for me, this time I was able to spot a nice crack nearly thirty feet up that would serve as a great spot for my hook. I quickly pulled out the hook with an attached rope and tied all three ropes together, giving me some added length. Tying one end around my waist and securing the bag as well, I started to swing the hook-end of the rope around.
Building momentum I eventually released my grip as the hook flew towards the crack.
With a clang clang clang it bounced harmlessly off the rock face and fell back down to the floor beneath.
Repeating the process four more times until I finally heard a chink instead, I tugged and found the hook had secured itself.
What took a minute would save me at least five.
Testing the rope I found it had been excellently wedged in place and felt I could safely ascend with it. Grabbing the rope with both hands outstretched I quickly pulled myself up using the muscles of the back and then let the rope hang between my legs. Using one foot to bring the rope up and the other to step on the rope between the insets of my boot, I created a hold I could slide with or rest with.
If I was in a hurry I would simply use my back and pull myself up with my arms alone, but this was an endurance race and not a sprint. So, instead I used the brake and squat method of climbing rope, by raising my knees to my chest and then squatting up, standing on the rope as it was locked between my feet.
It was a simple method and an effective one that could be done quite rapidly and without any real effort once you had some experience with it. A few seconds later I had reached the crevice where my hook was wedged, thirty some feet had been scaled in a matter of moments.
I loved ropes.
I missed climbing them.
As the day progressed I had ended up doing a mixture of rope climbs and free climbs along the varying 70-80 degree walls, with the occasional 85-90 degree or worse walls with overhangs. But, by the time the sun had started to set nearly four hours after I began, I had managed to climb roughly five-hundred and fifty feet and stood at least 1,350 or so feet above the base. I was getting closer, inch by inch to the top.
With darkness settling in, it was now time for my much needed break.
Once I had finished the log out process I soon found myself using the restroom, getting a glass of water, and then looking for food. It had become an oddly habitual recurrence that wasn't anywhere close to a normal schedule.
I was still playing with my four-hours on, four-hours off schedule and was sleeping in three blocks of roughly three hours each. It was a shitty schedule, but I wanted to make sure I did everything properly for the "Event."