Versatile: Alternate World

The dinner were all made from meat and all of them are different variety of meat dish. Even though all of them are meat, it doesn't have much of a problem, to be honest, and it's decent if I say so myself. It's not a bad thing but it's also not something superb.

"What, you don't like the food?"

"It's not like that. The meat is good, but it lacks the kick."

"Oh, you mean spices? Of course, I don't have them. Do you think I can procure them here? It's not like I can harvest them from the bodies of the monsters I slay and they don't grow on plants that exist here, there is no way I can get any of it," he opens his mouth and bites a mouthful on it.

The meat is tender and chewy but the fact that there is nothing to enhance its taste makes it a bit stale and a bit bitter due to how it was grilled over the fire. It would have been great if I have brought some spices for cooking but I currently don't have any of them available as I stored them back at the mansion's storage to accommodate a bigger inventory for me and to also put more space to put the potions I made before since the spices and condiments are placed together with the potions.

'Oh, I do have some salt, that would help I think.'

Opening the inventory, I check the items pocket and scroll whether I didn't store the salt away or not, and I was delighted to see that I have them in my inventory. Though it isn't the normal table salt and it is in the form of rock salt. However, both are salt, the other is just grounded for easier consumption and the other is big enough you can bash someone and injure them using it.

The guy noticed when I pulled out the rock salt from my inventory.

"Whoa! Isn't that a rocksalt?! Give me some!"

"Wha- hey! I am the owner of this thing, let me use it first and you get your turn for later! Hey! Give it back you bastard!"

...

...

After our dinner, the guy is lying on his back on the stone slab while rubbing his bulging belly, full from the food he ate. After applying the rock salt to the meat, the taste was enhanced quite a bit, allowing the guy to awaken his desire to eat the meat more.

"HAAAAA~ That really hits the spot! It's been so long since I managed to have some good salty taste in my mouth. That really helped me regain my enthusiasm for eating delicious food!"

I just sat there watching him do that. To be honest, I don't have any idea of being robbed of that kind of privilege so I can't relate but I also don't want to brag about it as it might also happen to me someday and with a future ever-changing from the past, my future knowledge will slowly become irrelevant as it goes on.

Now that I have rested enough, I think it is also time to get out of this place and find a way out of this hellhole. Oh, if that is the case, shouldn't this guy know where it should be located? That isn't a bad question to ask.

However, this guy is already sleeping. I can only shake my head and look for an opportunity. As for now, let's try to see outside of this cave. As I was about to go out and check what is going on outside...

"Don't go out of the cave just yet. If you want to go out, do it tomorrow. With a blizzard happening outside, not only will you be frozen to death, the monsters out there currently hunting in the blizzard would snack on your dead body right now. You should have a good rest and wait for the blizzard to pass."

"A blizzard underground?"

"It's a common phenomenon in this place. It's not just called a "frozen hell" for nothing. If you are not that strong enough or your will is too weak, then this place will surely consume every piece of your body from head to toe, or even a single strand of your hair so you better listen to the veteran who knows what he is doing"

"Then, does this place has an exit?"

As soon as I asked that question, he stood back up from lying down and looked me straight in the eyes.

"If you have entered this place successfully, there is bound to be an exit. There is no such thing as no exit in the world. Now, if you ask me if there is an exit, yes. It does exist but going out here is close to impossible to someone who has a weak will."

"So it does exist?"

"Yes. It does exist and it's not just some sort of lie I would say. But I doubt you are strong enough to even pass through it."

"Huh?"

"Although I call it an exit, it's a road filled with monsters making the area to reach back the surface as something of a road to the nest of monsters. I am not saying it is impossible but with your strength, you will definitely die."

"Even still, I will have to get out of this place and get back to the surface!"

"Then your only choice is to fight the monsters, kill them and claim back the road to go back. But as I said earlier, you are too weak to even challenge them. If you can't even defeat me, then your chances of even getting out of here alive are even close to zero. If you wanted to get there, then I won't stop you. However, stay put for the night and get some rest."

After that, he started snoring. I can only stare at him in disbelief and wonder whether he is just doing a sleep talk or if he was definitely awake. However, it is clear that there is an exit. That alone is enough for me and although I don't trust this guy, I decided to keep a note of what he said about the exit.

Since this place is a safe place in the meantime without counting the one who almost killed me before, it is a safe place to log out. I returned to the room where I first woke up before and log out of the game from there. I will have to rest my body and get some good time to check whether anyone has already gone outside of their game cabins to take a break.

...

The moment I returned to the real world, the cold cover of my bed welcomed me and I was so surprised since it was so similar to how cold a piece of ice does. Not only that, but it was also brick hard. I looked around my room and I noticed that everything is getting frozen. The walls are showing signs of freezing particles. I can't be wrong about it as I can easily tell it was indeed ice that is slowly covering the whole place.

"What the hell happened while I was playing the game?"

I checked outside my window only to be stopped by the freezing hinges of my window. I realized that most of the things in my room is close to freezing. I quickly went to my PC and removed the forming ice. I also covered the case to avoid it from breaking once the ice breaks in. I also turned on the heater I have and put it near the PC. Not only will it help reduce the ice forming but will also warm my room.

After salvaging the situation, I peered through the cold window to look at what is happening outside. Although it's hard to peer through due to how the windowpane is also covered in ice particles, I can tell that it seems to be snowing outside. I know that it should be impossible to snow since we are far from winter and it is in the middle of spring, snow isn't like rain that will just drop whenever it wanted to so this was unprecedented.

Getting the smallest gist of it, I went to look outside my room if the situation is any different. Opening it, I realized that it is much warmer compared to my room but it is still cold compared to the normal weather.

I went into the living room and I can hear the sound of the television and some people talking. When I went down the stairs, I saw everyone in the living room, facing the fireplace. Even Suhei and Pandora are currently huddled with the others while covering themselves in a thick blanket that seems to belong to the siblings since I remembered buying them one before.

"Ah, finally Manato, you are finally outside. I thought you already died from being frozen in your room. I thought of barging inside but I am currently too lazy to return especially with the cold weather covering the whole place!"

With the situation, I frowned at the current things happening, Just what the hell is happening and how the heck does this cold weather phenomenon come from? Without anything to learn about this since it didn't exist in the past timeline, I have to improvise and adapt on the situation.