*Scritch*
*Scratch*
"Journal entry 322."
It's been a year since that day, and I am enjoying my calm life in the forest very much. Every morning, I wake up, get some training in, then go out into the forest to hunt for food and return to cook it. Afterwards, I spend time meditating and reminisce, the only way to move forward is to accept what's already happened after all, I have no idea if that's a real quote, but someone on Earth has probably said it before. At first, I was lethargic and unwilling to do all this work, but after months and months of it, I managed to build up some good habits. "
It was his 1st anniversary of his 999th regression, which he kept track of with a handy-dandy little calendar that he made himself, a piece of wood and a knife, and just a tiny bit of arcane wizardry.
Throughout these few months, he attempted to rehabilitate himself with some everyday, mundane tasks, to varying degrees of success. Life was peaceful now, almost too peaceful....
You see, as time went on, a small part of Mark still yearned for the adventure, for the excitement of exploration and discovery. The childish part of him that never went away, even after suffering for a thousand lifetimes, because that was his nature at heart, an adventurer.
So Mark would create a simple bag of holding with some dimension magic to store all of his belongings and enough rations to last him months. Including his house! Which he made portable by shrinking it down with spatial magic, a pretty cool trick. He would set out to do something he had neglected to do for far too long, and actually enjoy the fantasy world he was transmigrated to.
Oh, and he would bring a brand new journal as well, titled "The Adventures of a Lonely Regressor. (Trademarked)"
First stop, the Huaran Mountain ranges, which border the forest he used to live in. One of Mark's lifelong dreams on Earth was to go atop a mountain and lie down in a grassy meadow on the top, looking up towards the partially cloudy sky while basking in the warmth of the sun. And this was the perfect opportunity to finally fulfill that ancient dream.
---
*Step*
*Step*
"This is taking quite a while... at least the view along the way is nice...don't you agree?"
It had been a week since Mark initially set off on his journey. Wanting to have the truest hiking experience, he chose not to use any magic spells to speed up his journey. Well, except for when he was attacked by creatures or needed to use his bag of holding at least.
Currently, he was three-fourths of the way to the top of this mountain. Along the way, he encountered a cave with two dead creatures inside. One was a massive panda, if Mark could recall correctly; this species of panda was known as Mystic Pandas and possessed extremely potent magic and physical power. The other creature seemed to be what the panda died against, a giant serpent. This species was also extremely powerful and possessed the strongest natural venom in the world, which was most likely how they ended up killing the panda. Although the panda most likely finished its opponent off first.
Deeper in the cave, Mark heard the cries of a child, which ended up being a small mystic panda cub, most likely the child of the one who died against the serpent. Feeling a sense of remorse for this orphaned child, Mark decided to bring it with him, as a pet of sorts.
Back in the present, the baby panda would happily nod along with what Mark said, however, it was unclear if it was agreeing with him or just nodding for the fun of it. Mark would simply keep walking, though. Step by step, he eventually made it to the top of the mountain. And what awaited him there was the vision of his dreams. A bright and beautiful meadow, living among the clouds. The weather was perfect as well, sunny with a bit of cloud, so it wouldn't get too bright.
"It's...beautiful...."
Mark would barely manage to whisper these two words before lying down to take a rest. Finally, he managed to tick something off his bucket list.
---
The next few days, Mark would set up his cottage down here and use this place as his temporary home. He had finally achieved one of his lifelong goals on Earth! Albeit, he didn't manage to complete it in the world he wanted to. Anyways, he spent these days caring for his panda cub, whom he named "Cubby".
[You have a terrible naming scheme]
"Shut it."
Mark would recall his past life on Earth and his best friend from his childhood. A golden retriever puppy his parents had gifted him for his 4th birthday. Mark loved that puppy more than anything else in the world, which made it all the harder when it was struck by lightning, 10 meters in front of him. He held his best friend's corpse in his arms and wept, for what felt like an eternity.
That was all in the past now however, and Mark needed to accept those tragedies and move on. So he happily pet Cubby and told them why he really decided to adopt them from that cave.
"Back home, I had a friend, and he was a lot like you. He and I played everyday and everynight. Sadly, he passed away in a grievous accident. When I look at you, it reminds me of a time where life was easier and I was happier."
Cubby would nod after hearing his words and jump onto Mark's shoulder, hugging him as if trying to console him. Mark would lie down on the greenery with the panda cub still hugging half of his face, and would sleep without any sleep spells for the first time ever since his earliest regressions.
"Thank..you..."