Following the mine shaft, David returned to the cave entrance he had dug out.
He pulled out cobblestone from his backpack that was similar in color to the surrounding rock layers and sealed the entrance from the inside.
David quickly returned up the stairs he had come down, knocking down and retrieving the torches stuck on the walls along the way, and did his best to seal off parts of the path.
Returning to the crude base, there was no one inside.
He climbed out of the ladder; it was already early morning outside. He hadn't expected that digging for ore would take him the entire night.
"Please respond if you receive this, please respond, this is Hans..." The static of a radio came from not far away.
David walked over quickly; Hans was still persistently debugging the equipment.
David didn't explain his disappearance last night, and Hans tacitly didn't ask, only giving an extra look at the iron armor on David's body.
"No time to explain, let's go, Hans!" David spoke rapidly, pulling wheat from his backpack and waving it in front of the listless Otis's eyes.
Otis's nose twitched, and its spirits lifted as it began to walk, following the wheat.
"What happened?" Hans followed, wasting no words.
"It's hard to explain in a short time." David led Otis with the wheat while frequently looking back to confirm that the greenskins hadn't followed.
"By the way, do you have a good place to go? Preferably far away from this area."
"A place to go?" Hans thought for a moment and raised his hand to point East.
David looked into the distance in the direction he pointed. Beyond the hilly terrain before them, a patch of green appeared at the edge of his vision—a decently sized jungle.
Behind the jungle was a mountain peak that soared into the clouds, its upper half covered in pure white snow.
"Cross the Axel Sea of Trees, then climb over Mount Reizla, and we can reach Tyrok Bastion." Hans spoke of this with some excitement.
"Then what are we waiting for?" David retracted his gaze and patted Otis's neck. "Let's go!"
The distance between the hills and the sea of trees wasn't particularly far.
Half an hour later, low-lying ferns appeared, the air became humid, and the group officially stepped into the edge of the Axel Sea of Trees.
Sunlight filtered through the gaps in the leaves, casting coin-shaped patterns on the ground.
It was somewhat like jungle terrain. David held wheat in his left hand to lead the pack animal in front, while Hans brought up the rear with his lasgun.
As they walked, David's right hand toyed with an emerald he had just obtained.
He had traded 15 units of coal with Hans to get it.
Unfortunately, he could only trade for one; the option to exchange coal for emeralds had already turned gray and could not be selected again. It was much less than the quantity a Villager could trade.
Under the light, the surface of the emerald shimmered, radiating an ethereal beauty.
David subconsciously weighed it; the emerald slightly left his palm, floating in the air against common sense before slowly falling back into his hand.
David was certain that Hans didn't have any gems or similar items on him.
Then what did he use to trade with him? David put away the emerald, deciding not to think about it if he couldn't figure it out.
"Moo—!"
The Otis behind him let out a long cry of pain.
David looked back and saw a gray shadow quickly flash past the pack animal's ankle.
Blood sprayed from the side of Otis's hoof, and a small piece of flesh had vanished.
"Careful, it's a Wild Rat." Hans reacted quickly, immediately aiming his gun at the target.
The Wild Rat dove straight into a hole and disappeared.
"A single one is nothing, but if their numbers grow into a rat tide, they can gnaw a person down to just a skeleton in minutes." Hans lowered his voice.
Only then did David notice that many bowl-sized holes were distributed among the tree roots on both sides.
Several sneaky heads poked out from the holes, staring at their group.
The rats of Cardia grew much larger than those David had seen in his previous life, and the incisors characteristic of rodents were even sharper.
One of them held a bloody piece of fresh meat in its front paws—the very piece just torn from Otis—and was devouring it without a care.
Noticing David's gaze, most of the rats swished back into their holes.
A few bold ones remained unmoved, letting out threatening sounds from their throats.
Another gray figure shot out from the side, aiming straight for the hampered Otis, clearly treating it as a soft target.
"Again?!" David pulled out his Iron sword and slashed horizontally.
The gray shadow nimbly twisted its body in mid-air, avoiding the Iron sword.
It even turned back to let out a few "squeak squeak" shrieks at David upon landing, as if mocking him, before diving into another hole without looking back.
Little punk, you really think I can't deal with you?
David walked straight to a larger hole and, under Hans's confused gaze, casually pulled out a water bucket.
"You... are going to?" Hans hadn't finished his question.
David had already placed the water bucket at the hole, the water flowing out and pouring into the depths of the tunnel.
After a short while, bubbles began to gurgle from the entrance, and two or three soaking wet Wild Rats, unable to breathe, floated up.
Rat Meat x4, rat pelt x6.
David repeated the process, flushing out every hole within his sight.
The final harvest was bountiful, yielding 16 Rat Meat and 32 rat pelts.
These rat pelts felt tough to the touch, similar to rabbit hides; four of them could be crafted into one piece of leather.
leather was still very useful, whether for the books necessary for an Enchanting Table or for a saddle.
Speaking of saddles, David glanced at Otis.
He hadn't observed it closely before, but looking at it now, it had a broad back and its limbs had hard connective tissue. It would probably make a good mount.
Taking out two iron ingots and one piece of leather, David crafted a saddle on the crafting table and draped it over Otis's body.
The road ahead was long; having a mount could save a lot of trouble.
David climbed up and sat down. Otis was clearly stunned and began to squirm uneasily, snorting heavily from its nose.
David stroked its neck to soothe Otis, but it didn't appreciate the gesture at all. Changing its usual attitude toward David, its entire body tilted left and right, trying to throw the uninvited guest off its back.
Caught off guard, David tightly hugged Otis's thick neck. "Hans, give me a hand."
Seeing this, Hans used his body to brace against Otis's flank. Under their combined effort, Otis's struggle gradually weakened, finally letting out a resigned grunt.
David sat steadily again. Despite never having actually ridden any animal, his body felt as if some built-in riding memory had been triggered.
"Forward." He tried to gently nudge Otis's belly with his legs.
Otis reluctantly began to walk.
But the speed was a bit too steady; it felt like even leading a pig would be faster than this.
Once the novelty wore off, David looked at Otis's leisurely pace and couldn't help but slap its rump firmly.
Otis just flicked its tail, its pace remaining unhurried.
David scratched his head in frustration, then had a flash of inspiration. He took out a unit of wheat, leaned forward, and held it in front of Otis's eyes.
"Snort—" It let out a snort, and its pace unconsciously quickened as it extended its tongue to try and curl around the delicacy right before it.
As it moved, the wheat moved with it, maintaining a constant distance from the tip of its nose.
Otis got a bit anxious and quickened its pace again, stretching its neck and eating the wheat.
The first attempt ended in failure.
His arms were too short. He needed to find a fishing rod and make a wheat version of a Carrot on a Stick.
David had a better idea.