"Tunggu.. Tunggu.. Yo.. Yo.."
/Wait..wait.. Fine.. fine../
Janu stopped and looked back. He smirked.
"Aku ra duwe barang kui."
/I don't have it./
"The hell. I'm going."
He was totally disappointed. He thought he succeeded in changing the toad's mind but what he got was a total crap..
"Tunggu sik. Nek panjalukmu kui emas aku iso menehi sak akehe. Nanging kowe njaluk sing aku ora duwe. Opo sing mbok karepke?"
/Wait. If you demanded gold I could give you a ton of it. But you're asking something that I don't own. What do you expect?/
"..."
"
/Oh, hold on. As a matter of fact I have this box. I'll give it to you if you save me from this d*mned body./
[A Special Gift
Type: Reward Box
Rarity: Special
Get a random reward. May contain what you desire. Can only be used once.]
"It's tempting."
"Iyo to. Saiki nggonen Atine lan iki bakal dadi nggonmu."
/I know, right? Now use that Heart and this is yours./
"Okay. But what will you do after I save you?"
"Wait. Can you speak using human language directly? Although I somehow know what you say, it's still weird for me."
"Sure, no problem. I can even speak in a toad language, so human language is easy."
'This toad..! You are a toad. Of course you speak in a toad language. Is your brain damaged or something?' Wrinkles were seen on Janu's forehead every time he held himself back from anger.
"I don't know. Sleep all day, maybe."
"Will you harm me?"
"Why would I? If you save me doesn't it mean I owe you? I have no reason to do that."
"Not really. You warned me so we can just get even."
Janu took the heart from the inventory.
'Activate.'
The statue trembled and the stone slowly changed to the toad's original body.
"That's it? I thought the process was more dramatic than this. It's not even crumbling."
Finally the toad was freed from its state.
"At last. I AM FREEEEE…..!"
The toad was ecstatic.
"It's been so long."
"Thanks. Now take it."
Janu received the box. It was wrapped like a real gift.
"How long have you been petrified?"
"Who knows. I already gave up. I lost all hopes when no one came."
'How could you even be petrified by that snake?'
Janu didn't chase the matter further as he lost interest in the toad's background.
"Open"
[Received:
Nava Dipala's Compass
Type: Artefact
Rarity: Legendary
It can show you the direction to the one you desire the most.]
"It sounds like a cliche."
"But at least you got a Legendary artefact. Is it what you really want? Congratulations."
"Not exactly. Maybe. How do I use it?"
"Nava Dipala means the Guardian of the Nine Directions. It consists of Nine Major Devas, maybe."
"It only has eight directions, though. You haven't answered my question."
"I don't know. Try praying or offering sacrifices. Maybe it works. Who knows?"
"Do you only know how to joke around?"
"I really don't know. It's a given. At least you should try something. Why don't you think of the thing you want the most and see what happens?"
"That's more feasible. Let's see."
Janu closed his eyes and concentrated on the thing he wanted the most.
…
…
"Nothing happens."
Berut woke him.
"Maybe it's not here."
"What did you think of anyway?"
"I'm not telling. Let me try something else."
Once again he closed his eyes. Right now he was concentrating on the Underwater Breathing skill.
The needle of the compass moved fast in circles and it suddenly stopped. Janu looked serious as he was staring at the toad.
"You have it, don't you?"
The needle was pointing to Berut.
"What? What did you imagine?"
Berut really had no idea what Janu was talking about and it looked like a fool.
"The skill."
"Underwater Breathing?"
"Oh.. Of course I can breathe underwater. I'm a toad after all."
Berut didn't see it coming. And he realised what Janu meant.
"I can't just give you that skill. It's my nature. I was born with it."
"Hmm.."
Janu seemed to understand. It was a fact that a toad naturally could breathe underwater. Berut might tell the truth.
"You can't go back to your realm on your own. You don't know how, right? Why don't you help me?"
"Help you with what?"
"Many things."
"What will I get in return?"
"Nothing."
"You're expecting me to help you without giving anything in return? Bwah.."
"At least you won't be lonely or bored. The needle is still pointing to you, anyway."
…
"Okay. I'll play with you for the meantime. Where are you going?"
"Searching for the skill of course. Do you know where I can possibly get it?"
"No idea. What do you need it for?"
"I'm heading to the island in the sea and I thought that if I could breathe underwater it would be cool."
"Really? You think that way? Pffttt…"
Berut mocked him with that laugh. It was so naive of him if that was really the case.
'Arrghh.. This toad! I can't just tell it that the system gave me a mission.'
"Whatever. I need to go there."
"Are you sure? There's a really powerful creature there."
"That's why. Do you know how I can get there?"
"Why didn't you think of obtaining a flying skill like Float or something?"
"It's up to me to decide. I just felt like it. Ok, let's stop talking about it."
…
"Can you really give me some gold? A lot of it?"
"Of course. Give me something to restore my HP first."
Janu took out a large potion from the inventory.
"Open your mouth."
"What are you doing? Just hand me that."
He handed the potion to Berut and it accepted it like a human did.
"You can use your hand like a human?"
"Why not?"
"Yeah, right."
Berut gulped all of the liquid. At the same time, its HP rose significantly.
[Berut Toad Lv.95
HP: 33,333
MP: 1
…
…]
"What!? How come?"
Janu couldn't believe what he saw.
"Your total HP is almost 100,000?"
The potion that he gave to Berut could recover one third of max HP. If one bottle recovered 33,333 HP then Berut's max HP should be 99,999.
"Yeah.. Why are you surprised?"
"Of course I'm surprised. It would be the other way around. It would be surprising if I wasn't surprised."
…
"That's because I'm prosperous, remember?"
"How can it relate? Even if it was true, there's no guarantee that your HP is that high."
"You're such an idiot, aren't you? With gold you can buy anything."
"Is there a store that sells additional HP?"
"Bwahahahaa..."
"What's so funny?"
At this moment Janu felt like an idiot. The toad kept toying with him.
"I'll tell you a secret. There's something that can increase HP permanently."
"Really? What's that?"
"I've told you. It's a secret."
"Now I really regret saving you."
"Don't be mad. Don't humans have a saying that if you're angry you're getting old? You'll look older if you keep getting angry. Here."
It spat something. Although it was surprising, it was disappointing at the same time.
"A gold coin? Only ONE coin? You're actually poor, right?"
"Why would I give more?"
"But you said you could give a ton of it."
"It's more than enough. I can buy ten of your potions with that."
…
The gold coin was in a pool of greenish saliva.
"It's disgusting."
"You're not taking it?"
"You wish. Next time I'll prepare some water first to clean it."
"What a waste. It's precious in your world, right?"
"Right. How can you take out gold at your wish, anyway?"
"Toad is a symbol of prosperity. What else other than gold represents prosperity?"
"You're kidding, aren't you? How can a toad be a symbol of prosperity?"
"Why not? What else can be other than a toad?"
Janu was speechless. He didn't have any ways to refute it.
"You don't have shame, do you?"
"Whatever, if you don't believe me."
...
"I can bring you there if you want."
"Really? How?"
"By swimming of course. You keep asking the obvious. Now, I'm starting to doubt if you even use your brain correctly."
"Hahahaha… Look who's talking. I wonder why when I'm talking to you I cannot think correctly."
"What do you mean?"
"Can you really swim in the sea?"
"Hah.. As easy as a pie. Hop on. I'll take you there in no time."
Janu jumped and landed on Berut's shoulder.
"Hang on."
Berut jumped above to get out of the cave. The cave didn't have a ceiling and it was the only way out for Berut. It was impossible for it to go out from the entrance.
"Aaaahhhh…"
The speed at which Berut jumped above was unexpectedly high and it surprised Janu. In a flash they were already outside.
"Slowly, will you!?"
"Bwahahaha…. Are you afraid, kid?"
'No, I'm not. The name is Janu, not kid."
"I don't care.. Hahaha…"
The two headed to the shore. It was quite far. Berut could easily avoid obstacles along the way by jumping high in the air. It was much faster to go that way than when Janu rode the tiger.
[Mission change
Obtain Underwater Breathing skill nullified.
Clear the Ninth Floor of the One Thousand Temples]
'It changed? Does it mean I won't be able to get that skill? That's a huge loss. Can I still get it somehow?'
…
'Maybe they're right when they say that humans mustn't be greedy. I cannot expect to get everything I want.'
"What are you thinking?"
"What?"
"We're here. Anyway, do you have something to restore my MP?"
"Sure. But, it's expensive."
"I've brought you here. At least give me some compensation."
"Alright. Here, take this."
Janu took out a large bottle of Mana Potion and gave it to Berut. He expected the toad at least to be grateful, but it was always disappointing.
"What? Only one?"
"It can restore 3,000 MP. Why do you need more?"
"Because it's not enough."
"Don't tell me that your max MP is 9,999."
"Exactly."
"Hahahhaha…"
…
"You're kidding, right?"
"I'm serious."
"Gosh… You know what? Humans have this saying. Give someone an inch and he'll take a mile."
"I'm not a human."
"Yeah… Here."
Janu tossed two more bottles to Beirut's mouth out of annoyance.
"Hold on."
Berut jumped down the cliff to the sea with Janu on its shoulder.
"You're not going to drown me, are you!?"
"Relax. Chicken wuss.."
Berut was swimming leisurely on the sea. Its front legs were idle and its rear legs were rowing one after the other. Despite its way of swimming, the speed was considerably fast. The waves didn't stop it from moving forward. After some time, they were quite far from the shore.
"Be careful."
"Why?"
"Some monsters are coming."
"Where? Underwater?"
"Behind us. Do you have any spells effective for water monsters?"
"Nope. Can we just run away?"
"Tch.. Not an option."
'I have Vajra. But will it be okay? If it strikes the water, will it affect us?'
"Just get ready with your weapon!"
"Here they come!"
The water behind them turned wavy and some sharks' fins were visible from the surface. Janu quickly equipped his spear and got ready to repel any incoming attacks.
"What are you doing? How are you supposed to attack them with a melee weapon?"
"You're right."
"Dumb*ss."
'First hand experience is truly the best. I wouldn't think about that.'
He then equipped his bow and started to shoot. Even though the arrows that he got from the snake were regular arrows, their damage was quite good.
Swoosh…
Swoosh…
Swoosh…
Some arrows hit the target but some missed. Some sharks were turned into stone as the effect of the bow. It was quite effective to reduce the number of the enemies, but their number was not to be underestimated. Janu couldn't keep up with the sharks' speed because of their number.
Some sharks were too close and they were ready to bit Berut's legs.
[Mirage Stride]
Berut activated one of his skills and instantly they moved quite far from the attackers.
"That's quite a skill that you've got."
"Don't be amazed by that low skill. I"ll show you a great one."
The sharks were fast to catch up and soon they were right behind them. Suddenly, Berut stopped and turned around. It inflated its neck and spurted.
[Carnivorous Tadpoles]
Hundreds of black creatures the size of human palm were thrown from its mouth into the sea. They dispersed and intercepted the sharks. In a blink of an eye, the blue water turned red from the sharks' blood. The tadpoles were like piranha; they devoured the sharks at an alarming speed. Their number, of course, played the biggest role. Janu was amazed yet disturbed by the scene.
'Luckily I didn't make enemies with this toad.'
Berut continued in its track to the island and left the pursuers behind. There was no time to waste as there might be other monsters lurking.
"Why did you ask me to get ready for battles if you could do it by yourself?"
"Don't count on others in a life and death situation. You should be able to at least defend yourself."
"I guess you're right."
'This toad is quite reliable.'
"We almost arrive."
The island was in front of them and it looked peculiar. It was like a volcano which erupted a long time ago and the explosion destroyed the top. A lake was formed in the middle of the island and it was surrounded by the remnants of the volcano.
"Wait. Something feels off."
Without a warning Berut pumped its body up using the seawater as the platform and from above he attacked.
[Air Shot]
Once again Berut inflated its neck, but this time it shot a blast of air downward. There was nothing there, but soon a ball of water emerged from the sea and shot towards the duo.
Boom…
"Whoaa…"
"Be careful.."
It met the air blast and the two energies created a shockwave. The air dispersed and the water splashed to all directions. At that moment, Berut headed to land on the island, leaving whatever it was.
"What was that?"
"Archerfish. Only they can do that. Let's move on."
"Wait. Head back a little."
"What are you gonna do? It's dangerous. They often hunt in groups."
"Don't worry. Believe me."
Still on Berut's shoulder, Janu held his divine artefact.
[Vajra]
The sky was getting darker as black clouds gathered. Thunder rolled and lightning struck.
Boom….
The sea became overly bright and electricity was lingering on the water. Waves were created as a result. The sea became rough and not long, several archerfish floated on the water as they died.
[Received:
-Fish Eye x16
-Fish Fin x16
-Fish Scale x24]
"Not bad, kid."
"Let's go."
The two continued to the crater in the middle of the lake.