Chapter 030: Not Quite the Same

Days passed one after another.

Players logged in to travel and logged out to sleep.

Of course, this was only for ordinary players. For someone like Wang Bo, who basically never logged off, even burying himself in the game for ten or fifteen days straight, he felt no fatigue.

As for Asuna and Ikari Yui, one had a consciousness crossing and the other a soul crossing; they simply couldn't log off.

Only Ada Wong and Dr.勇石 needed to log off to rest.

However, during these days of travel, Wang Bo still found time to log off once, found Fiora and Radlov, and asked them to use Kryptonian technology to create a body without a soul.

And have this body grow to about twenty years old in a short time.

Radlov agreed without a second thought, telling Wang Bo, "It can be completed in about three months. But, Chief, if we use this method to accelerate the body's growth, it will cause irreversible harm, likely shortening its lifespan to only ten years, or even less."

"No problem," Wang Bo said calmly. "Do you think I can't even solve a mere lifespan issue?"

He had no shortage of items that extended life under his command.

Not to mention that Wang Bo had the Elixir of Immortality on hand, which could allow a person to live for tens of thousands of years.

Radlov suddenly realized this and grew even more excited. After Wang Bo left, Radlov immediately found Fiora and told her that he wanted to rapidly accelerate the growth of the newly born Kryptonian infants.

Fiora naturally disagreed. "Are you crazy? You're murdering your own people."

Rapidly accelerating the growth of Kryptonian infants could indeed speed up their development and provide a batch of powerful combatants in a short time, but it was undoubtedly killing the goose that laid the golden eggs, causing great harm to their people.

Radlov said, "Of course I know this will shorten our people's lifespans, but the Chief has a way to solve this problem. I suspect he possesses some divine object that can prolong life. If we can get that divine object from the Chief, we can fully compensate for the harm done to our people."

Fiora fell silent. She understood well why Radlov was so excited.

Although they already had a planet, having only thirty-some people was far too few. It was unknown when they could restore Krypton's glory.

Only by having more people could they restore Krypton's former glory more quickly.

Though they had welcomed new life, it would take a long time for these newborns to grow up, and Radlov was already impatient.

In fact, not just Radlov, even Fiora was somewhat impatient.

"I will report this matter to the Chief, but you are absolutely not allowed to act on your own, understand?" Finally, Fiora decided to test Wang Bo's attitude.

Radlov nodded in agreement.

Meanwhile, back in the game, Wang Bo was unaware that Radlov and Fiora had new ideas because of his words.

He was still constantly traveling.

After more than ten days of continuous travel, one evening the weather suddenly changed.

The wind slowed, shifting to blow southward. The clouds racing across the sky also stopped, melting into the clear blue air. The pale but bright sun came out.

After a whole night's trek, they were greeted by a cold, clear dawn.

They finally arrived at a lowland surrounded by ancient holly trees, these aged trees seeming to merge with the rocks. Their dark leaves reflected light at sunrise, and the berries on the trees emitted a red glow.

Wang Bo couldn't help but marvel—this scenery was simply beautiful.

Looking up, they could see far to the south many blurred, stretching mountain ranges, now beginning to block their way.

To the left of these mountains were three particularly high peaks. The tallest and nearest summit looked like a snow-covered fang; its northern bare cliffs mostly still covered in shadow, while the parts touched by sunlight glowed red.

These three peaks were actually quite famous, for beneath them lay Khazad-dûm, the former home of the Dwarves.

But now it was called the Black Pit, or in Elvish, Moria.

The three peaks standing there were Barazinbar, the Redhorn, the cruel Caradhras; behind it were Silvertine and Cloudyhead, also called Celebdil the White and Fanuidhol the Grey.

In the Dwarvish tongue, they were Zirakzigil and Bundushathûr.

Arriving here marked the end of the first leg of their journey.

That morning, surrounded by dense holly trees, they lit a campfire in the valley. That combined dinner and breakfast was the happiest meal since they had set out.

After eating, they were in no hurry to sleep, for they had the whole night to rest and wouldn't set out again until the next evening.

But the players knew this was impossible.

Because the Eye of Sauron was also here; it was not a safe place.

The players warned Gandalf. At first, Gandalf didn't believe it, but when he saw a large flock of crows flying between the Misty Mountains and the Greyflood River, he sensed something was wrong.

These crows were not creatures native to this area but came from the region of Dunland.

Yet they appeared here, clearly spying on this land.

So they quickly extinguished the campfire and entered a resting state. After resting for a day, they set out again at night to leave this cursed place.

However, to avoid these black birds, they had to change direction eastward, toward Mount Caradhras. The last rays of the sun still shone on the slopes of Caradhras, reflecting a fiery red light, and white stars leaped one by one into the darkening sky.

Aragorn, the King of Men, was familiar with this area and led them into a very ancient road, as if it were a relic of an ancient path.

This place might have once been glorious, but now it had declined.

Finally, after a long trek, they arrived at Mount Caradhras. The huge peak was capped with snow, while its sides were bare, steep cliffs that glowed red in the sunlight as if stained with blood.

Seeing this, Wang Bo couldn't help but shake his head and murmured, "It really is different."

Asuna, walking beside Wang Bo, heard this and couldn't help asking, "What's different?"

Wang Bo said as he walked, "I mean, Mount Caradhras in the game is different from Mount Caradhras in reality."

"Mount Caradhras in reality?" Asuna thought Wang Bo was about to say something else, but then she suddenly realized—this was the Middle-earth in the game.

Was there a Mount Caradhras in reality?