The Earth After Rebirth

Ding!

[Congratulations on defeating earth golems of Mt. Lava. You have been awarded 400k EXP and 50k coins. The path to cross the lava will be open for the next 5 hours after that, you'll have to fight to get through again.]

Just then, a bridge-like thing built itself over the lava. It looked sturdy enough, it wouldn't break under Hubris.

"No lava skills? Seriously? Dammit."

Kiro looked at the hot spring, then at the bridge, then the hot spring again.

"The gods have spoken." He announced while taking off his robe and armour, he safely put them in his storage space.

There was cold air, even with the volcano there. He quickly jumped into the hot spring. He felt like each of his muscles were being massaged by an invisible force. It felt too good.

"This must be part of the reward. Not sure 5 hours will be enough. Want to fight them again?"

"No, thank you."

"Why aren't you coming in? It's amazing!"

"Bathe? With my master? Don't be ridiculous."

"Hubris, stop your nonsense and come in." He activated whirlwind and caved in the edge he was standing on, he fell right in.

Hubris didn't both fighting it, as the water felt so great, then he floated around on his back. Feeling relaxed with his eyes closed.

Kiro had to constantly wake himself up so as to not fall asleep. He couldn't afford fighting another one of them, the water was however hot and relaxing. It seemed to wash away every problem, every worry he'd ever bared.

"Ahh this hits the spot doesn't it."

They stayed until the very last second, when it was time to go, Kiro didn't even bother putting his stuff on, he scrambled and ran as is. The volcanic ground was a bit hotter for his bare foot, so he wore his boots as he ran to the other side of the mountain.

When they crossed the bridge, Kiro almost froze to death. He would've if it weren't for Hubris. He quickly wore his armour, the hot spring was now nothing but a bitter memory.

He was once again, back to this gods forsaken mountain. He sighed. They walked a bit of a  distance and decided to wait for the rain, it was pouring hard now.

Kiro picked some wood, and they entered a little cave, he started a fire while in there and started on their food. He decided, Hubris should eat, the mountain wasn't exactly safe, depriving him of fast healing would be dumb on his part.

"System, who won that last round?" Kiro asked with a chip on his shoulder.

Ding!

[Hubris...]

"What? How?"

[...]

"Damn, unfair system." He mumbled

Hubris was dumbfounded at the system, he had no idea how it calculated the scores but it was clearly wrong this time, he didn't pay it any mind since it was helping him win.

"Do you think the system is cheating master?"

"Of course it's cheating!"

"Do you want us to call off the bet?"

"I don't go back on my word." He said, but clearly he was sulking.

The rain was something Kiro liked, and the game devs captured the sound of it, the smell of it against soil really well. He felt like he was back in the real world, the rain was always a kind of peace for him. The smell especially, it embraced him. When nothing made sensed, he listened to it because it always did to him.

He remembered that it was raining, pouring hard like this the day he died too. He wondered whether that was a coincidence or gods really did exist, and they just knew what to pull to make that moment the more peaceful for him.

The cave also kind of reminded him of his room back home. Dirty and dingy. Exactly the room he shared with his brother. A room he now shared with Alora.

He even had raw meat on his storage space. He didn't want to cook, so he grilled the meat with some veggies. The storage space was great in that, everything stayed fresh no matter what.

He grilled plentiful, he wanted Hubris to have a feast. He fought well after all against the Earth golems, without him by his side, he wouldn't have done much. In a way, this was a way to compensate him for being such a good sport.

It smelled so divine, Hubris' maw was watering. He couldn't wait to dig in, literally. Kiro bought a lot of seasonings, with all the hell training he went through back at home, he knew just what to do.

The scent of the food was so good, that it attracted some small animals. The first animal to show up was a squirrel. That caught Kiro off guard.

"What kind of squirrell eats meat?"

The system explained to him that this was a omnivorous squirell. He didn't even want to pat it, he didn't trust it not to swallow his hand whole.

A doglike animal joined them too. He was familiar with dogs, but he wasn't idiotic enough to pat it. He just tossed them some meat when he was done grilling. He wasn't scared of them, with Hubris there he wouldn't even have to lift a finger. He just didn't want to kill unnecessarily.

Hubris ate to his heart's content. He wasn't eating to heal anymore, he wanted to fill the black hole that was his stomach. The food was also a big comfort for him, which made him swear then and there, that he had to win the bet and hoped the system would continued to cheat in his favour.

After they were done eating, their guests took their leave without so much as a thank you. Kiro scoffed. He hadn't expected them to talk, but maybe a little bow to show appreciation but no, they just left.

He was full, warm and a bit tired so, he snuggled with Hubris. He was knocked out immediately.

"I have to make money soon, I wonder how they are." He mumbled in his sleep, turning to the other side.