Reincarnated as an Energy with a System

Chapter 1710  Foolʼs Pass

”Letʼs talk plans,” Ning said. ”I heard in the city about you guys. I know now that you are from the Republic. We want to go to the republic, so we should work together.”

The leader said nothing, chewing down on his final few spoons of stew.

”Problem is, I donʼt know how I can get any of you to go with me,” Ning said. ”The main issue is that as soon as we go past the mountain, there is a giant gate with a ton of soldiers waiting to check on what we bring.”

”Even if you have those clothes on, they should immediately recognize you. If not from your looks, then from your accent. So the only thing I can think of that can be done is that we go down a path that does not exist. I do not know the map very well, so I do not know if there is any other path down there though.”

The leader ate another spoonful of stew and chewed on it. He was the only one chewing at this point as the other dozen and a half soldiers surrounding him were looking at him, waiting for him to say something.

The man let out a deep breath and said, ”I understand what you want to do, but you are a kid. I cannot allow you to come with us on something so dangerous,” he said. ”You are not wanted either, so you can just leave us and go.”

”I canʼt,” Ning said. ”The battlefield is something I cannot imagine going past without having someone from the other side escort me there.”

”You cannot go past the battlefield even with me,” the leader said. ”The moment we show ourselves to our friends, our enemies will see us too and attack us. There is just no way.”

”There has to be a way,” Ning said.

The man thought for a moment and nodded. ”There is a way,” he said. ”But it is terribly difficult to achieve. It requires us to do something rather difficult, and mind I say dangerous too.”

”What do we need to do?” Ning asked, curious.

The man thought for a moment and said, ”The Larganʼs Pass is where the main battle is happening. It is dangerous to even think you can go through it without being in harmʼs way. The mountains surrounding it are also steep and impossible to get through. Not to mention, there are soldiers on top who will shoot down at you at the first sign of you going there.”

”So climbing up the mountain by trying to ignore the pass is not a good idea, huh?” Ning asked.

”No. Not to mention, since the Republic was the original empire, it had enough resources to keep fighting in the war for generations to come. And without the war coming to a close, you can forget about making it through to it.”

Ning didnʼt know much about the geography of the Onyx Continent besides what he saw nearly a month ago. He remembered bits and pieces and also remembered the place known as the Larganʼs pass. So many people died during the war this time around.

”Okay… so what do we do? If that is not that way,” Ning asked. ”You said there was a way.”

”Foolʼs pass,” the man said. ”If we go through the Foolʼs pass, instead of trying to go through Larganʼs pass, we will survive. Not only survive, we will even get to go there.”

Ning thought for a bit, frowning. ”Isnʼt the Foolʼs pass supposed to be a rather harsh location to go through? I donʼt know much about it except that it is a difficult terrain.”

”It is a difficult terrain, and it is unintuitive to go through it, but that is what makes it the best path to take.”

The man took a final spoonful of what was left and used the spoon to draw on the ground. ”The Foolʼs Pass is mostly steep, filled with hundreds of narrow cliff-side paths that are impossible to go through at any time other than the winter.”

During the summer and the rest of the season, the bay of Terror to the side brings the west wind, which carries with it storm clouds. Because of that, other than maybe 2 months a year, it rains almost every single day.”

”This increases not just the chances of landslides but also makes it incredibly dangerous to go through it. They had created a path. ”Only during winter is there no rain, making it stable. Even then, with how slippery the snow gets in that region, going through it is suicide.”

”And… we are going to go through it?” Ning asked.

”Yes. That is the only way to go back,” the man said.

”Seems unnecessarily dangerous,” Ning said.

The leader gave an awkward smile.

”Is that all the path there is? I remember reading about how the king who claims himself the Emperor now made his way to the south through Foolʼs Pass. Surely the king did not take such a dangerous path.”

”No, there was an easier way through the foolʼs pass at first. It was a little dangerous, but only about as much as this very path we are on. But, when the war began, our soldiers destroyed the path so the enemy soldiers couldnʼt make their way through it.”

Ning thought for a long while. ”Are you sure we wonʼt die if we make it through there?” he asked. ”It seems incredibly dangerous.”

”If we are to go there any way we can, then that is the only way. Either that or…”

”Or?” Ning asked.

”Or we wait until the Republic has fallen.” There was a glimpse of hesitation in his voice when he said that. Ning couldnʼt quite understand what it was that he was feeling.

”Anyway, that is that,” the man said, turning around to look at Ning. ”If after all of this, you still wish to come with us, then we wonʼt stop you. Just know that it will be a very arduous journey.”