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In normal circumstances, climbing a mountain or even a vertical cliff face wouldn’t mean much to Barrett. Even though he’d just barely managed to climb up after Master Hykel when he first became his student, he hadn’t even been first tier at that point. That hundred meter cliff hadn’t been the toughest in the world, but there was a fundamental difference between what a normal human could do and a cultivator… and then again between early tiers and a master.
At a somewhat casual climbing speed, Barrett could cover three kilometers in less than two hours. The current situation was anything but casual, but Barrett didn’t feel like he would be slowed down too much. All told, maybe a few hours to reach the top? However, that was just what he could estimate from the ground. Maybe there would be problems he didn’t anticipate.
Caprica stood nearby, watching as Barrett and Crenthor prepared for the climb. She would have been sitting or lying on the ground, but Barrett had informed her it would only be worse in the long run. Not that she could stand for long but over the past few days she had grown more capable of moving around… enough so that Barrett wouldn’t be worried about her being unable to do anything. As for why she had come along… there were no signs of anyone having followed them. There was no reason to believe otherwise either, because they had gone more or less directly from the attack to dealing with the guard’s to Crenthor’s place and then came to The Hopeless Heights. If there were any more Grasping Hand members around to immediately react, they would have been involved in the battle. Barrett could understand not wanting to remain alone in the city, however. Especially since she hadn’t been able to break through to be a master yet.
There were various tools that made climbing easier… unfortunately even with a magic bag Barrett wasn’t able to bring three kilometers of rope along with him. With weight also being an issue, it might actually make things worse. He also couldn’t afford that much rope that could actually hold his weight without snapping if he actually fell… unless it was a very short distance, in which case he would have to attach the rope to the wall every meter or so. He did have enough supplies to attach himself to the wall if he needed to rest.
“You’re still wearing your armor?” Crenthor asked.
Barrett nodded, “It should help more than it hurts. My boots won’t though.” In fact, Barrett was neither wearing his boots nor his gloves that went under the sabatons and gauntlets respectively. He needed to have as much direct contact as possible, and his boots weren’t particularly made for climbing. As for the various bits of his armor… while they might seem to be liable to get in his way or reduce his flexibility, that wasn’t the case. Well-made armor still allowed for a high range of motion… and Barrett could flex his armor in any direction he wanted it to go- more importantly, without wasting much stamina. Maybe its additional uses wouldn’t make up for the weight, but he thought it might.
“And the spear?” Crenthor asked.
“We’re strapping it to your back.” Crenthor was already going to be strapped to Barrett’s back, and the spear couldn’t exactly go in between them. Besides, it would allow him to balance slightly better- since he could more directly shift around the spear.
“Well, you’re the one who knows what he’s doing,” Crenthor shook his head. “As long as you are confident, I will not complain and do my best to stay out of your way.”
Barrett nodded, “I can do it.” It wouldn’t necessarily be easy- he would likely run into unanticipated challenges, but reacting to any circumstances that arose was an important part of being a cultivator.
The start of the climb was ‘easy’. Crenthor weighed the same as four Crenthors, but the more relevant part was that Barrett and his armor weighed four times as much as well. Altogether, the weight Barrett had to carry was more or less a tonne. That was actually less than when he normally walked around, but climbing wasn’t the same as walking around.
Near the bottom, Barrett had picked out a good path up the cliffside. Though it wasn’t specifically made to be difficult to climb, the cliffside was relatively more vertical and flat than others, but there were still slight protrusions for handholds and footholds. Sometimes Barrett had to stretch, but his fingers and toes held. If the whole cliff face was the same, he would reach the top in a few hours easily enough, or even one and a half.
Things wouldn’t remain that easy. As he had already seen, ice formed on the cliff face higher up. There was ice down below as well, but it wasn’t as significant. As they moved higher, Barrett had to increase the friction of his hands and feet, sometimes scraping at the ice to make it more usable. It didn’t help that Crenthor was pulling him away from the cliff either- though it was clear he was trying not to have an impact. Over the last few days Crenthor had barely been able to stay conscious in the high gravity, but now he was doing so with minimal use of energy. Barrett could feel his energy poking about trying to figure out how to help Barrett climb, but the best thing he could do was act like dead weight and avoid interrupting anything Barrett did.
Barrett was glad for his trip to Bittercold Peak. Though it wasn’t as cold here, direct contact of his skin on ice would have been somewhat problematic. The ice itself was colder than most natural ice, but certainly nowhere as supernaturally cold as Bittercold Peak. Even so, just because Barrett could resist it didn’t mean it was entirely ignorable. It was just one factor that was draining at him a little bit at a time.
Most of the time, Barrett’s hands and feet moved quickly. There was no reason to remain in one spot for long, as that would just make him more tired. Sometimes what had looked like a good handhold from below turned out to be much less viable once he actually reached it, but he adapted. Having reached approximately one kilometer up, a third of the way to the very peak, Barrett could feel his lungs working hard. It was one thing to breathe thinner air, and another to do so while in heavier gravity as well. He felt like every breath was pulling away from him. Even so, if that was all he would reach the top soon enough. Of course, things were seldom so easy.