Into the Caverealm

"Pierre liked walking. It was a mind-numbingly simple and repetitive activity that anyone could perform without expertise or years of training. However, when Abbot proposed venturing further into the caves, Pierre hadn't expected it to be so incredibly tedious.

The issue wasn't that walking in this world was incredibly tiring. In fact, Pierre couldn't recall the last time he had been tired since arriving in the cave realm. Perhaps they couldn't tire like goliaths or whatever silly name Abbot had given them. What really bothered him about walking was how awkward it felt.

"You know the feeling of walking, right? It's not very spectacular; you just put one foot in front of the other, feel the weight of your body shift, your hips gently bounce, and the floor move beneath you. Sometimes the floor is soft and moves aside, trying to throw you off balance, and other times it remains static, as if your walking didn't impact it at all. Finally, you rhythmically push yourself off the ground and see the object you're walking towards seemingly float closer.

I believe there's nothing more effortless than walking. I mean, how could it be? You barely waste any muscle power or thoughts to do so. Especially when going downhill! I'm certain I could have walked downhill for days on end even before I became a rock-monster. If you really want to empty your mind for whatever reason, I recommend you just walk. There's nothing better.

Well, Isabelle didn't think so. She used to do this stupid thing where she would pay some guy an absurd amount of money so she could sit in a room with like 20 other girls and try not to think. They called it 'meditation practice' or something stupid like that.

I just don't understand. How can you think your mind isn't empty if you're willing to pay hundreds of bucks just to learn how not to think? It seems to me that everyone who does yoga has already achieved their goal before they started.

Anyway, I feel like I'm somehow drifting off-topic. What was I going on about? Dum... dum... dum. Sleeping? No, that can't be right. Why is it so hard to remember something you were thinking about just a second ago?"

Pierre stopped walking, prompting Abbot to gain some distance between them as he appeared to not have noticed. In this part of the caves, there was somehow less going on than in the previous section. The walls had somehow become smoother and more even. There were no longer any spikes or stripes covering the floor or ceiling, and their color had changed from their previously vibrant orange to a stale, simple grey.

"Ah, now I remember! Walking, was it? Walking as a rock feels nothing like walking as a human. My body is so heavy and slow, it feels like hiking underwater. Well, you can't really hike underwater as much as you can do the walking motion while using your hands to keep your head submerged.

No, there has to be a better way to describe this. How about this? It feels like burrowing through quicksand. Not that I would know anything about that, but I imagine this is what it feels like."

"Hey, Pierre, you coming?" Abbot yelled from across the hallway. He had gained quite a bit of distance.

"Coming!" Pierre answered, before slowly continuing his stride. He wasn't in a particular hurry.

The two of them kept walking through the cave, while the tunnel gradually became thinner and thinner. Other than that and the gradual colour shift of the rock towards a darker black, neither of them noticed a significant change in their surroundings.

"...and so after 3 years of grinding, that's how I played through every map in Geosu Dash."

"Every map? Aren't there like thousands being uploaded by the community on a daily basis?"

"Well, yes, but if you only focus on the ranked ones, you can limit yourself to several dozen ones every week."

"And since you don't complete all of them, you don't have to keep being hard-stuck at the same one for months on end?"

"Exactly! See, you're getting it."

"But how does playing every ranked map not boost your rank above everybody else's?"

"No lollygagging!" Abbot shrieked in excitement.

"Sorry, come again?" Pierre asked. His friend was often quite demanding. Nevertheless, he was fun to talk to. He may have been unnecessarily extroverted and talkative at times, but at least he knew how to hold a thrilling conversation.

Abbot raised his stubby hand towards the darkness of the tunnel. It was hard to tell because he lacked fingers but Pierre assumed he was trying to point at something.

"No, not that! I think I just saw a light from deeper within the cave!"