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The map was completely incomprehensible. Techno's starting to think he's been scammed. The longer he stared at it, the more of a headache he gets.
Why was the whole thing blank? There was nothing on it, the little marker that showed where he was in the world in alignment to his position on the map was missing, and there wasn't even a clear landmark for him to use!
His reputation as the Human GPS is going down the drain because of this treasure.
He had whined about it to Phil, who laughed at him before heading to bed. He traveled across the entire landmass and risked being banned just by jumping a little too high.
And he still haven't reached even the corner of this map?
Think of the treasure Techno, think of the treasure.
Carl neighed beside him. Techno sighed, reaching a hand out to give him a gentle pat.
"Sorry Carl, we might be staying out a bit longer," he said, looking around the meadow they were currently in. Night was falling, and while Techno may be fine going through the night fighting the monsters, he wasn't going to risk Carl's life just for a dumb prize.
He hopped off, holding onto Carl's reigns as he led them across the field, walking around as he tried to find a suitable place for them to camp for the night.
Eventually, he found a steady looking tree he could tie Carl's reigns around and with flat ground next to it.
He gave Carl a apple as he made a small shack out of wood in which he placed down his sleeping bag. He went back outside for a while longer, giving his horse a couple more pets and brushed out his mane before the place became dark enough for him to worry about mobs spawning.
He headed to sleep, and woke up the next day just fine, a little cramped, but still good enough to look for that dang gift card.
He broke the shack down, gave Carl some more apples as a breakfast, combed his mane again, untied him and took off, heading in a random direction with hopes that it's right.
They came across ruined portals, buried shipwrecks, and even a desert temple or too while traveling. Techno had Carl take regular breaks, he may want this treasure but again, he wasn't going to risk his most favourite horse's health for it. It took them half the day before he saw the marker appear on his map.
He cheered, steering Carl in the right direction, galloping over flower fields and dark oak forests. He bowed down any monsters that tried attacking them, leaning over to scoop up the items they dropped.
Night had fallen once again when they reached a beach, a warm ocean next to them. The ocean was lit in a array of colours, the bioluminescent algae mixing with the soft light the pickles give off to make the ocean feel alive.
Techno hopped off and placed a wide circle of torches around them, preventing any unwanted creatures appearing while he began to dig around in the sand, shoveling up whole chunks of the beach he was in just for any sign for the treasure.
It got to the point where he gave in and brought up his map again, making sure he was directly over the X before digging straight down. Was it dangerous? Yes, but it got him to find the treasure chest, so who cares!
He cheered, opening the chest to loot whatever he wanted from it. It had decent loot, which was good for him because if Techno just spent 2 whole days looking for trash he would commit unforgivable crimes.
He climbed back up to the surface, pulling himself up onto the grass that connects the beach to the rest of land. He walked over to Carl, showing off the treasures he just got.
Just then, he heard a loud splash coming from the ocean. Startled, he drew his blade as he faced the source of the noise.
It was…a whale. A pretty big one too. It was covered in the same algae that lit up the ocean, making the whale look blue in the darkness. It showed itself for a moment, before going back into the sea, tail whipping up into the air and falling back down with a loud splash.
Techno stood there for a moment longer, before turning back and getting onto Carl's saddle.
"Come on boy, let's head back home."