BANG!!
The loud noise jolted him awake. For a moment, it felt like his heart stopped.
BANG!!
"What the hell is that?" he muttered with confusion but then grabbed the sword lying beside him and stood up quickly.
THUDD!!
The bedroom door crashed to the floor, its hinges broken as the tiger pushed through.
"What's going on?!" Maya called out as she stepped out of her room, her face still groggy but filled with confusion.
"Stay there, Maya! SHUT YOUR DOOR!" he shouted urgently.
Without hesitating, she did as he said and slammed her room door shut.
The tiger leapt at him, but he stepped to the side just in time and drove his sword deep into the beast's body.
The animal let out a loud screech before collapsing to the floor, lifeless.
As Ash pulled the sword free from the dead tiger, another one entered the room. It let out a low and menacing growl towards him.
The creature noticed its companion lying lifeless on the floor and instantly leapt at Ash with rage, but he swiftly dodged the attack and swung his sword sideways.
The tiger's body was sliced in half, leaving him slightly stunned by his own increased strength.
'So, boosting stats actually makes a difference,' he thought with a mix of surprise and satisfaction as he moved closer to the bodies of the two tigers and crouched down to inspect them.
"Maya, come out here, please!" he called out.
She slowly opened her room door and stepped out slowly, hesitating as she walked toward his room.
"What the heck just happened?!" she exclaimed and her eyes widening when she noticed the broken door lying on the floor.
She quickly glanced at his new partner, and after confirming he was fine, she cautiously moved closer to Ash. In the dim moonlight, her face looked a little paler than usual after she saw the tigers' dead bodies.
"Are you alright?" she asked with a bit of shaky voice.
He turned to her with a happy grin and said, "Well, we've got enough meat for the trip to the pterodactyl lair."
***
After spending several days in the world of 'Finding Objects,' he was starting to adjust to the strange and unpredictable events that kept happening.
For example, after he killed the two tigers that had entered his room, suddenly the bodies of the two creatures disappeared. In the Inventory, a supply of meat and fangs will appear.
Or suddenly he finds an item that didn't make sense to be anywhere, like finding the matches and firewood in a cave, on his first days here.
Each place has different characteristics or themes, even though the two places were side by side. For example, from the hotel where they stayed, which was located in a tropical rainforest, a few hundred kilometers later was a pterodactyl nest with a barren area.
The problem was figuring out how they moved from one location to another.
So he grumbled as he walked towards the pterodactyl nest with Maya.
"Why are there no vehicles? We should have taken the jeep at the pyramid headquarters first," he grumbled.
"And before you made it, your body was all riddled with holes from being shot at by people in military attire," she teased him as she walked in front of him.
He pouted. He wasn't so tired from walking because his endurance had increased, but he was annoyed because, for him, it was a waste of time. Why are there cars or anything else here if he has to walk?
Maya laughed seeing him still pouting and teased him again, "Ah, come on. Consider this exercise to make our leg muscles strong, right?"
"Tch."
He clicked his tongue.
Then he realized that she was walking and moving nimbly among the trees and dense tropical plants.
"Tch," he clicked his tongue again in clear jealousy.
***
They walked for five days. Sometimes they rest on tree branches or spend the night in caves. Sometimes they have to clear out caves filled with bears or other animals. Because of this, they never worry about a shortage of food supplies.
Maya also brought salt and some other spices that she found in the hotel kitchen. So, all the meat they cooked didn't taste bland anymore.
On the fifth night, they sat in front of the bonfire in the cave. The cave location was not far from the pterodactyl's nest.
While leaning against the cave wall comfortably because they were full, the two of them were busy examining their respective screens.
Ash scrolled through his Inventory screen
[Inventory:
⇒ The Captain's Diary: 1.
Item Rank: Rare.
⇒ The Captain's Map: 1
Item Rank: Rare.
⇒ The Supreme Magus' Grimoire: 1
Item Rank: Special.
.
.
.]
'Ah, I forgot I have the Captain's Map,' he took the map from his inventory, then opened it.
"Hmm..." he muttered while rubbing his chin. "This is the map of this game world, right?" he asked rhetorically.
Maya raised her head from the screen she was fiddling with, "What?" she asked.
"Come here," he beckoned her over, "This is the map of this world, right?" he asked while spreading the map on the cave floor.
She moved closer to him and joined in examining the map.
"Ummm… that seems about right. Only this map is completer and more detailed," she answered, pointing to several places on the map. "Look, this is the hotel where we were. Here it is also written what items are in the hotel."
"The Supreme Magus' Grimoire," they said in unison.
Confused, he asked, "If this item is on the map, that means the person who made this map has already taken the item, right? Then why could we find it in that place?"
She chuckled and answered, "That means the person holding the item is dead. Items that no one owns will return to their original place. A reset of sorts."
"Oh, I see... " he nodded with understanding.
"This map is as accurate as my Treasure Sense skill," she muttered as she observed the map once more.
"Maybe the maker was the same as you, a Thief," he mocked her as he picked up a map from the floor.
"Hey, I haven't finished looking yet!" she exclaimed.
Without listening to her, he folded and returned the map to his Inventory, then said casually, "I have you, why bother opening and closing the map."
She pursed her lips and returned to her original seat, ready to sleep.
***
They arrived at the edge of the tropical rainforest and saw barren and rugged hills stretching out in front of them. As far as the eye could see, there was only one large tree, but it looked dead and had no leaves.
Several pterodactyls appeared to be floating in the air. Their measures were about three to six meters in wingspan. The beaks of each could be up to seventy centimeters long.
Ash swallowed his saliva. He could feel that his life might be at stake this time.