A shitty day
We resumed our journey shortly after sunrise. We'd already gone half the way faster than we thought, so we'd probably arrive at Clanara in a day and a half or two at the most... unless...
"Do you really want to face that alone?"
“Yes.”
Of all the monsters that we could find, we had to come across probably with the worst of all existing ones.
"Then I left them to you… I can't handle them!"
Aeldrya hid behind a tree while Limy faced the trio of enemies in front of her.
—I think the same as her... Stop the nonsense and escape at full speed!
—Master, they are not as dangerous as they seem.
—Its dangerousness is not what worries us!
Three bloody beetles of more than forty centimeters long were blocking our way. At first glance, they did not differ much from a normal and common beetle, apart from their size. They had a rounded body, completely black, with wings hidden inside their shell, and their front legs appeared to have small blades. They weren't big enough to cut someone in half, but they could definitely do a lot of damage if they hit you.
Status:
Name: -
Kind: Giant beetle | Race: Lesser giant laticollis
Level: 4 | Grade: 1
HP: 54/54 | MP: 27/27
Stats:
Vitality: 12 | Strength: 8 | Agility: 10
Intellect: 4 | Magic power: 5
————————————————
Status:
Name: -
Kind: Giant beetle | Race: Lesser giant laticollis
Level: 5 | Grade: 1
HP: 63/63 | MP: 31/31
Stats:
Vitality: 14 | Strength: 11 | Agility: 13
Intellect: 3 | Magic power: 2
————————————————
Status:
Name: -
Kind: Giant beetle | Race: Lesser giant laticollis
Level: 4 | Grade: 1
HP: 54/54 | MP: 25/25
Stats:
Vitality: 12 | Strength: 12 | Agility: 9
Intellect: 4 | Magic power: 3
————————————————
They really didn't seem very dangerous… but that wasn't the problem! The problem was...
[Lesser giant laticollis: A monstrous beetle that throws extremely foul-smelling balls to stun its enemies and then attack them while they were disoriented.]
They were a bunch of gross XXL dung beetles!
—Don't just stand there! Move right now!
One of the beetles turned around and opened its shell to reveal its wings... along with what was just below these... With the sound of "prrfff", which literally reminded me of a big fart, it threw a brown-colored ball directly at Limy.
'Dung beetles are supposed to collect manure, not to produce it themselves!'
Limy sped out of her path and began closing in on the beetles as the dung ball crashed to the ground with a rather unpleasant watery sound.
“I can smell it even from here..." I heard Aeldrya mutter.
Seeing the girl approach, the other beetles turned and began bombarding her all at once. The road soon became a "minefield". It was impossible for me to imagine the stink in the place... and I didn't want to imagine it!
When Limy was close enough to attack, the three beetles took flight and stopped throwing shit to attack with their blades. However, Limy had relatively good reflexes, and it can't be said that those insects were living torpedoes. She readied her sword and sliced off their wings when they passed by her side, causing them to fall to the ground like dead weights. Without being able to fly anymore, it didn't take long for her to finish them off.
After the work was finished, the elf, who had been hiding behind a tree all the time, approached holding her nose.
"Good work Li... Yuck!"
And yes, Aeldrya stepped on a mine... A very large one...
And at this point, I suppose you are all wondering the same thing as me: Have the author some strange fetish with shit? I want to believe that no... Right, there is something more important that you would want to know: Have we skipped a part? Don't worry, that's not the case...
***
At first glance, this old man looked like a completely normal person to whom no one would pay any attention. However, the only time Helpy couldn't show a status was when I confronted that stupid bird. One of two, either this old man was a terrible monster, or he had some ability that protected him from being analyzed... I don't know which of the two I preferred...
"How strange, may I be wrong?"
I kept still while the old man watched me incessantly. I was terrified that he would notice my shaking and sweating… until I remembered that I couldn't shake or sweat… Anyway, I braced myself for an imminent confrontation. After surviving that dungeon, a confrontation with an old man couldn't be that bad.
"But what am I doing? It's just a stone thrown by some kids. I'm getting paranoid with age."
He let out a yawn and went through the same door he entered. All the fear I'd felt was gone in a moment, being replaced by a shame that filled my body from top to bottom.
"I was scared of a damn old cunt!"
Imagining a sigh of relief, I prepared to get out of that house as soon as possible. The problem was knowing where to escape.
‘Well, I will be leaving through the same window that I entered.’
I braced myself to pass through the window that old man had repaired in an instant. It wouldn't take him much to do it again, would it? Therefore, I shot towards it and pas… kept floating just a few centimeters from it.
‘Shit ... Waaaaaaaaaaaa!’
Before I knew it, I was backing up at full speed. I ended up on top of some kind of parchment with a strange circle and unintelligible characters drawn on it. Next to it was the old man, looking at me exactly the same as before.
‘What’s the hell with you…’
"… disgusting fucking crazy old man! Fuck you! Do you want me to trash you and clean the floor with your ass?! Let go of me right now or I'll send you straight to the hospital!"
The old man was looking at me with narrowed eyes while I released all my anger, not realizing that my voice was blaring inside the room. I only noticed it when I looked at the circle, which was glowing brightly, and he raised a finger without deigning to say a single word, on top of which a huge ball of fire began to grow to more than fifty centimeters in diameter.
“... I want to apologize…”
"You think that you can fool me? What really are you?"
"Um... this... well... fool you about what? I'm a humble stone thrown by a couple of shitty kids... I just want to go home..."
"I have an evaluation skill. I can clearly see that you are a dungeon core."
"Not because I want to!"
Little by little, the huge fireball began to disappear. I understood right away that fighting him was not an option. The only way to leave unscratched was talking. Luckily, as it's said, by talking, people understand each other... I count as people, right?
"I have to admit that you are an interesting being. I've never seen a dungeon core with such reasoning ability before, and you appear to be an artificial one. Your skills and titles are not normal either. You also have the title "Dungeon conqueror", which means that you have destroyed a dungeon core yourself."
His ability to see absolutely everything about me terrified me even more. That was not fair! Where did the privacy go?! Trying to trick him didn't seem like a good idea either, so I decided to go straight ahead with the truth.
"I became this after killing one..."
The old man began to scratch his bald head with his bony fingers.
"And what were you before?"
"I don't want to answer that…”
The old man raised his finger again. Yes, I definitely had to go with the truth ahead...
"A stone! A simple stone! An ordinary stone... You don't know how much it bothers me to remember it..."
He raised an eyebrow again, without lowering his finger.
"And before that, human…”
"Are you making fun of me?"
"Of course not!"
I ended up telling him the whole story of my life. I told him how I was born in a small hospital, and how my birth was complicated because I couldn't turn and I went out with my ass first. How as a kid I had fun licking outlets at home, and even about the day I pooped in the middle of the schoolyard... When he re-ignited the fireball, I went directly to the moment of the accident.
"And so I ended up being a dungeon core against my will."
"In all my long years of life, I have never heard anything so far-fetched as everything you just told me."
"Even if you don't believe me, it's the truth..."
"It's not that I don't believe you. Everything you've told me is too much to be made up on the spot, and it's not the first time I've heard of someone coming from another world. I'm actually quite curious."
"Well, I'm happy for you... I get depressed when I think that I'm a stone..."
"Of course, I wouldn't like to be in your place either. However, you should think about how to make the most of it instead of only caring about the drawbacks."
It certainly had its little advantages...
“Well… I don't get tired, I don't need to eat and a few more things, but I have no limbs and I can’t even speak normally.”
“Yes, I can notice that. But it can be solved if you try.”
Without giving me time to say anything else, he pulled me off the parchment and wrapped it up again. He turned his back on me and started walking toward the door again.
"Don't just stand there, follow me."
I was not sure if I should follow him or not, but in the end I decided to listen to what he wanted to say. I followed him through the door to enter a dark hallway. I rolled next to him until we reached some stairs that went down to the first floor.
"From what I saw, you are a rookie wizard. There are many things that can be learned by oneself, but the most advanced ones are impossible if nobody teaches you."
Without that rare scroll, I couldn't speak, so I just rolled beside him silently. As if he sensed my thoughts, he kept talking.
"Considering your situation, you will never find anyone who can teach you the secrets of magic. There will come a time when you will no longer be able to level up by yourself. However you are lucky, I am also a mage."
I can't say that I hadn't supposed it. Seeing how he fixed the window, how he held me in the air, and that strange parchment, it was the first thing I thought.
"I'd be lying if I say that you gave me a good first impression. Still, considering that you are a magic stone, you might have great magic potential. If you really want to be a real mage, it would be a shame if you got stuck right away."
'And what do you want me to do?'
We ended up in front of a wall at the end of a hallway on the first floor. After the old man touched it, it opened up and other stairs appeared. At the end of these was a simple closed door. With a confident smile, he opened the door, and a room lit up by itself thanks to a pile of white crystals. I was completely amazed at what was in front of me, a huge room full of books and strange gadgets surrounded by the same characters on the parchment, which glowed with different colors. Without a doubt, that was the paradise of any mage.
"How about? Do you want me to teach you magic?"
He threw me on the parchment again. I immediately wanted to say yes, but I couldn't.
"Well... of course, that would be great, but... I must leave this place tomorrow morning and I don't know if I will be able to return here..."
“So where will you go after that?”
“I’m going to Clanara first, and after finishing some business there probably I will return to Cerbalon. Why?”
“I see. Let’s do something. For now, let me see what you are capable of. Then I will decide if you are worthy of inheriting my knowledge.”
“That means…”
“Cerbalon is not too far from here, and I also have some friends there that I have not seen for a long time. If you show me that you have potential, I don’t care about going there.”
“Really?”
“Yes, but before you must show me what you can do. Let’s go, night won’t last forever. Right, let me introduce myself. I am…”
But I hardly even heard what he was saying. I was so excited to pay attention. No matter what, I would learn anything I could from him at all cost.