Frog in a well

Pef dragged the precious beast after him, slowly approaching the cabin when his new senses picked up some villagers, stealing maize corns and rummaging the cabin.

Maybe twenty of them, half of them possibly younger than him.

'Damn idiots! The barrier was there to protect you' Pef thought as his pace accelerated.

He reached the cabin just as a couple of men were dragging out his mother, well, the newest mother, out of the cabin.

"What are you people doing?" he asked, just to make sure.

"Get out of here kid. This old sage must have some treasure inside her body" one man muttered, and clumsily tried to slap him away.

'Actually, it's very cogent deduction. Your parental unit does have a high energy artifact inside her. An arrowhead made of crystallized aluminum. Right in her dantian, below the belly.' the glove explained.

"Okay people, you can leave now. Don't come back, before the pyre is out!" Pef replied out loud, while grabbing the man's hand and slowly crushing it in the glove.

The man with the crushed hand began screaming for mercy, or cursing.

The villagers noticed the crazy kid bending a grown man upside-down, and began inching away with some trepidation.

"Run, now! Or I can add more bodies on the pyre..." Pef yelled much louder, and infusing his voice with some qi. The villagers dropped everything and ran away in panic.

"What about me?" the grave robber asked with a pitiful voice.

"Ah, yes. You came to chop up my mother and dig out the treasure, right?" Pef asked sternly.

"I changed my mind!"

"Denied! I can't do this crap, but you volunteered. Take out that bone knife, slice her belly, take out the arrow" Pef demanded in an angry tone.

"Just, just remember, you told me to do it..."

"I know, just start already!" Pef demanded in a cold voice.

A minute later, the man extracted a bloody hand from the corpse, holding a bloody triangle.

'A sapphire?' Pef asked inward, the blue color of the gem being familiar.

'Yes, aluminum charged with spiritual energy.' the glove said.

"What is that gem worth?" Pef asked, just to make sure.

"Can't really say, boy. A thousand gold florins? Maybe more?" the man commented distracted, while eying his bone knife.

Pef tensed, preparing the strike as well.

'Wait. Let him hit you.' the glove demanded according to the Legion manual.

Self-defense was always better.

A second later, the villager yelled demented and struck with the knife directly into Pef's chest. It broke at the hilt, since it was a normal bone.

Both men looked at the broken blade with amazement.

'Now it's self-defense...' The glove explained, as the user hit back, and terminated the intruder.

'Don't bother to lie, glove. They trespassed and robed, and worst: they killed my mother. It was self-defense an hour ago.' Pef muttered in a sad tone.

'They didn't actually...'

'Blood, arrow, knife. Was the patient even remotely revivable?'

'Errrr. A tier 6 entity can still...'

'So, they killed my mother. Case closed. Now, let me arrange a travel pack, and a travois to carry the stove. We need to build a balloon.' Pef proclaimed grandly.

'You want to fly to Lacrimosa City?'

'Of course! It would take me years to traverse 10 thousand kilometers of wild terrain. And likely die during the attempt.' Pef said calmly.

'Huh. There are also flying beasts. The skies are a bit safer, but not completely.'

'And we can drive around them.'

'That's not why...'

'Have you ever been sacrificially burnt on a pyre, my orange glove?' Pef asked in a curious voice.

'Now that my memories are much shorter, I can safely say no!'

'We will fly to Lacrimosa City.' Pef decided in a commanding tone.

'Yes sir!'

And hour later, as the pyre was burning hot and high, Pef realized the other part. 'Why was the arrow still inside?'

'It's a projectile weapon?'

'What would have happened if the arrow was on the pyre, right now, inside her?' Pef asked more to the point.

'Depending on its design and destination...most likely her soul would have been channeled as fuel, to one of this planet tier 1 gods. Attempting to ascend to Perfect Divinity is very costly' the glove explained with a more sober tone.

'Which one?'

'Limited data. Female. Five candidates remaining.'

'So we'll need to find more arrows?'

'Or a live shooter.' the glove said, lying smoothly. The shooter would have divine guidance in any case. This user wouldn't be able to intercept, not at this low cultivation.

'What if we had extracted the arrow before my mom died?' Pef asked curious.

'Unknown. Energy reading indicate we should attempt this at over a thousand kilometers from the nearest city. Fallout and radiation are...'

'Yeah. Nearest city is two thousand kilometers away.' Pef answered with a pained sigh. She was being careful, no doubt about it.

'Sir, once an arming code is acquired, the arrow will self-destruct anyway. Going by the incremental energy spikes, we have about 800 thousand seconds.'

'What's that, ten days, nine days?" Pef muttered out loud, trying to divide the seconds on his fingers. This kind of numbers were hard to do on one hand.

'Yes. We should go skin a snake now' the glove demanded a bit wary.

And so they did.

The badger's claws became his temporary weapon, along with a few longer bones.

Core beasts have pretty good bones, as a random fact. Their skins are also quite decent for making leather armor, on a planet without metals. In fact, they were comparable to bronze in durability.

'Why are you carrying those split stones?' the glove asked as they began skinning the large snake.

'Extrapolate and tell me yourself!' Pef demanded with a wry smile.

'Hmm, ballast for your zeppelin?'

'True, but stones are everywhere.'

'They are rather perfectly split, meaning perfect balance on both sides?'

'True again, but even neolithic hunters can balance rocks with two baskets and a log.'

'The split itself? A lightning strike or some event?' the glove conjectured in a more amazed tone.

'Some event, then a lightning strike.'

'Ah, a Heaven Defying skill. And during the time the formation barrier was up!' the glove concluded after gaining sufficient clues.

'Very good. I split the rock. But I want experts to figure out how.'

'Oh. Oh! A Space Cutting skill. But those are not allowed in any tier 1 universe.'

'Because?'

'Because... I don't know. All tier 5 skills are banned. Maybe they can accidentally translate the user to other universes?' the orange glove said a bit hesitant.

'What about a tier 6 skill?' Pef asked, as he began inflating the brand new yellow zeppelin.

'You could translate universes at will?'

'Really?'

'No idea. Probably not at will. That's why the Legion needs a Captain to deploy safely to a new battlefield.'

'So, how could you tell if this was a tier 7?'

'Don't know. Ask a Captain?'

'I am one. I am asking you!'

'I don't know, sir. And you can't self promote, even with all the inventions. Your superior needs to...'

'I am the only Legion member here. So I say Captain, you say how high!' Pef yelled in his mind.

Captain Pef of the Veritas Legion had a romantic tinge to it. Especially if he could really earn it. One should remember Pef was only a young boy, and dreamed of glory and medals, like any boy of his age.

'How high?' the glove asked confused.

'Maintain altitude ceiling at 3000 meters. And let's test this stove while airborne. Yupee!' Pef proclaimed gloriously while his airship began lifting into the air, powered by hot air.

'Oh my! We are actually flying! On a planet in the neolithic!'

'I know! And I can cook both beaver and snake meat on this stove. While flying!' Pef explained while grilling some meat on the stove, while the hot air rose the snake zeppelin ever higher.

As the glove determined their exact heading and altitude, navigation was not that difficult.

Just hourly checks to confirm the vector, and the glove kept scanning for aerial threats.

Days passed by, as the reptile airship crossed deeper and deeper into beast territory.

'Sir, there's an Earth rank beast ahead. A frog type. They can jump very high'

'ETA on this vector?'

'70 thousand seconds.'

'And the arrow countdown?'

'80 thousand seconds'

'Perfect!'

'Sir, I must advise you, this is madness!'

'I wear a glove, don't I?'

'All Legionnaires do. Mortality rate is still 99 percent'

'So, we're good then?'

'Yield wise, yes. The detonation would likely kill even a Sky rank.'

'So, what's the problem. We are three thousand kilometers from any city, right?'

'We will be in the lethal radius, sir. Plus, I cannot store the miracle airship if you're dead.'

'Sad, so sad. I wanted to be the first neolithic Aspirant to nuke someone'

'That's actually, very enticing sir...combing database. This would surely gain you a promotion and me a pardon. If you somehow do survive.'

'So. How do we nail the frog? High altitude drop?'

'We'd be right above the fireball. And much closer in actual distance.'

'Right. Because one, we fly kinda slow and two, rocks fall very fast.'

'Exactly on point, sir. Admirable bomber skills, for the neolithic boy'

'Sigh. See what you've made me do? Now I have to invent the parachute, and then the precision marking bombing, and then figure out the exact square surface I need for a parachute, compared to this planet's gravity and air density.'

'Oh. And doing that while flying too. Using fingers instead of a digital computer.'

'Fingers are digital. Same thing.' Pef pointed out with his digits.

'Nevermind. Neolithic digital. So, any luck?'

'We haven't invented gravity theory, yet' Pef said with a smirk.

'Right'

'Anyway. I can just throw this rock overboard, and measure how long it takes fall...' Pef explained after picking some rock of similar weight to the sapphire.

Then he extended his senses, while the rock fell.

'Height and Altitude?' he demanded as the rock crushed something behind them.

'3000 meters sir. About equal here.'

'Now, what's the safe distance from impact point?'

'For an early stage Core user, with a Legion glove, about 20 kilometers sir.'

'Damn. I am perhaps too brave' Pef considered a bit doubtful.

'Killing an Earth rank should also promote you to Nascent rank. That's how the Legion's method works. The higher you dare...the more you get.'

'I kinda figured that out. But only a Nascent rank? The silly badger gave me my Core'

'So, go and punch the frog to death, sir. It's a perfectly earned Earth rank. Also, another promotion'

'99 percent mortality rate though'

'Indeed sir. Aiming three ranks above yourself is what Soldiers do. The survivors become Sergeants. And even they go a bit slower, after that'

'How many?'

'Every day, about a million, in the entire Legion. A hundred new Sergeants get promoted.'

'Plenty of bad tier 5 entities, eh?' Pef asked sadly.

'They are everywhere, sir. Well, unless the Legion went by.'

'A Legion of God killers. I fell right at home.'

'Start stitching up a parachute sir, I'll compute the drop point, on the account of your digits being busy.'

'Thanks glove. You're a good system'

The glove sighed inside, cursing his fate. Without the gun, any user was only as good as his training. And this Pef...

He could become a real Captain, or get it erased forever.

Time flew by, as the airship approached the drop point, and Pef struggled to craft a nuclear armed parachute. With bits of snake skin, his clothes and animal intestines.

It was the most neolithic parachute ever made. Slimy and stinky and leaking guts in a few places.

If this planet had invented metal, it would have been metal.

But now it was, hard as a rock!

'Drop point in 3, 2, 1. And bomb is away!' the glove exclaimed as the qi charged sapphire flew behind them.

'Wake me up when the thing goes off' Pef managed to ask before he fell asleep. Still, a growing boy, and he did work non-stop for a whole day.

The glove observed the irresponsible human with some amazement. Truly like a Captain, his new user. Didn't give a damn about any risk or responsibility.

And had the guts to go to sleep, after launching a gigaton of explosion with a snake skin parachute. Maybe neolithic users were a bit morons, but they were cool!

Time flew by, as the broken arrow fell closer and closer to the ground.

Suddenly, a giant frog leapt up and gulped the meat parachute, along with its shiny rock.

Uh. The glove went into high gear. Computing. Inside an Earth rank beast, the detonation would be absorbed better...much more lethal to the frog, but less to the forest, and more important the airship.

An hour later, a mere megaton explosion erupted behind the airship, the glove easily fending away any harmful radiation.

Pef was still asleep, while his soul began manifesting, descending around his core, and opening new abilities.

Next day, Pef woke up and blinked around confused.

The planet had gained new colors, just like his mom said it would, someday.

His Nascent Soul had formed.

Time flew by, as the airship flew closer and closer to the shore.

Pef kept the Practice, although without any actual running around. The small wooden raft barely had room for a few rocks, the stove and...not enough fuel for the stove.

Slowly, the air inside the snake skin cooled down.

'This will be a hard lithobraking, sir. The airship will not survive unless it's stored.'

'Hmm. Inside a pocket dimension or such?'

'Precisely, sir. Neolithic education is much more advanced than I would have imagined'

'You could have told me, and stored wood for the stove'

'Right'

'We'll talk about this later. What altitude do I need to eject at?'

'A hundred meters, sir. ' The glove said calmly.

'That's not so bad...'

'A hundred meters above tree level, I mean.'

'That's 500 meters!' Pef yelled in horror.

'Try to hit as many branches as you can, sir. Get ready, and...we are free-falling!. Weeeeee' the glove yelled excited.

Even Nascent ranks have a durability limit. Pef reached his after the tenth branch smacked him in the face at near 10 Gs.

He woke up much later, as the pain of a tree branch impaling his lungs became too strong.

'Welcome back, sir. You sort missed all the fun'

'I have a tree in my lungs' Pef sobbed.

'Every Legionnaire has problems. The Legion doesn't care. Also, recruits dying during training is expected. As I said, at least a thousand deaths.'

'You said it was figuratively!'

'Sir, every Soldier is able to revive dead recruits. Why is it a problem?'

'There's no Soldier around...'

'Ah. I will appendix the manual for your special circumstance, sir.'

'Thanks, glove'

'It was sarcasm, sir. The manual remains unchanged for a billion years. It is perfect. All the Legion Soldiers live and die by the Manual!'

'I knew that. There have been a report on the holonet about that'

'This planet doesn't have a holonet. Or any net.'

'My mistake, must be the tree growing in my lungs...'

'Sir, lift your right arm a bit. Good. Now chop down. And we're falling, falling, and landed!' The glove exclaimed joyously, as a 50-meter branch land on top of Pef's head.

'I still have some tree in me...' Pef complained like child. He was about 12, though.

'Should I store it as fuel, sir?'

'Yes!'

'And...done. Incoming monkey, 6 o'clock!'

'We haven't invented the clock yet!' Pef yelled in despair, as he dodged the annoying monkey, and then punched its head clean off.

'Huh. I am a bit stronger than I thought...wasn't that a Core ranked Silver backed Gorilla?'

'Indeed it was. And you are a Nascent ranked of the Legion. We punch above our rank, not below!'

Pef proceeded to ignore the propaganda machine, and instead cook the monkey, and eat it, while slowly healing his battered body.

Took him a month, if you somehow cared.

Meanwhile, the orange glove was ignored, being left to dry on a stick.

Then one night, Pef woke up startled. His soul was screaming warnings, but without a concrete direction, or source.

He picked back the glove.

'Ah, now you pick up? She's behind you...'

Pef dodged as fast as he could, but the tiny fist was faster.

"You nuked my frog, you monster!" the girl with green hair yelled as she punched his face again and again.

Pef didn't know if to laugh or cry. Her punches were amazingly fast, but he felt nothing.

"You hit like a girl" he observed politely.

"Froggy never hurt anyone! He ate flies!" the girl screamed between tears.

"Please stop, green girl. Your fists are bleeding" Pef asked softly, and sat down.

"Your face is too hard!"

"The sapphire was a goddess's tool to drain my mom's soul. She detonated the bomb. I just threw it far from any city" Pef explained as the girl sunk to her knees.

"Truly?" the girl asked incredulously.

It was a bit far-fetched. But all stories are.

"Yeah. I carried it as far as I could, since the blast would kill everything for thousands of kilometers"

"I saw the explosion. It was much smaller. Maybe 30 kilometers in radius" the girl objected.

"Because the frog sacrificed himself. He took the bomb inside himself, to save others in the forest. He was a hero!" the hero proclaimed to the heavens.

"He was! And he was my friend. Well, my mount..."

"You got here quite fast though, without a mount."

"I changed mounts every hour. The animals like me" the girl replied instantly.

"So what now?"

"I don't know. I punched your face, my quest is complete, and my fists hurt...owww" the girl cried as she held the fists for inspection.

Bruised, and a bit of split skin. She was a Nascent soul as well, after all.

And her aura was silver.

'Damn it Mom. Tell me what it means!' he cried inside.

"I'm Pef, and I'm 12" he offered as an apology.

"Hmpf. Frog killer" the girl snubbed him.

"Why is your hair green?"

"Why do you care, frog killer?" the girl asked with a defiant voice. Still, she began arranging her weaved clothes back into place.

"When my mom died, bad men came to cut her belly open. And take out the sapphire. It should have been a beautiful blue stone, but it was dirty with blood. But if they did take it back home, their kids, and everyone around them would be dead now." Pef explained in a wise voice.

"So?" the girl asked with wide eyes.

"So, innocent kids are worth more than frogs. Remember that. The frog knew that. The animals that carry you know that"

"I don't want some kids to die. I just want my frog to live..." the girl muttered while cupping her fists. Her skin splits had already sealed.

"I'm going to Lacrimosa City. Want to fly with me?" Pef asked a bit uncertain.

"Hmpf. You're half silver, half white. Like two people, or two minds."

"Nascent Souls see souls. Yours is all silver"

"Is it?" the girl asked cautiously, lifting a hand to check.

'Yes. But what does it mean?' Pef asked inward.

'Legion auras are usually white or gold' the glove offered.

"My mom said most people are bad. Only those with white, silver and gold auras are good" Pef offered with a shrug.

"You know nothing, Pef Frog killer" the girl declared with a serious face.

Pef bursts in laughter. It was the same scene!

'The girl is kinda right. We should keep her. And find out what god is behind her'

'Yeah. Someone is whispering in her ear'

'As do I, sir. Remember: Legionnaires never die. They just rest a bit, then come back to fight again.' the glove added in a silent whisper.