Chapter 170

Treasure (3)

I could only stare dumbfounded at the fish swimming freely through the air like the sky whale.

The sky whale was a mythical creature, so I could simply chalk it up to being mysterious.

I could have even understood it if the fish had flopped and crawled across the ground like a lungfish.

But what unfolded before my eyes defied every expectation I had.

If this world were a game, it would be fair to say that I had encountered a bug.

Blub! Blub!

The fish swam smoothly as though the air itself were water.

If it could do that, why did it even have gills and fins?

The sky whale already denied the very existence of physics, but this thing took it a step further.

Title: What the hell is this thing?
Wild Grylls

(Video of a fish flying through the sky)

Are there any fish that can fly around in the sky?

└ Heavenly Demon: First the gorilla learns martial arts, and now even a fish has learned Void-Stepping.
　└ Wild Grylls: What’s Void-Stepping?
　└ Heavenly Demon: It is the ability to fly through the air, like the fish you are looking at. One must at least reach the Transformation Realm to barely perform it.
└ SwordMaster: Why don’t we just keep it for display? I’m curious how long it’ll keep flying.
　└ Wild Grylls: I need to eat too, you know.
└ Passing Dwarf: Hey, upload more videos. I’m not believing this until you upload a few more.
　└ Wild Grylls: You don’t believe in the sky whale either?
　└ Passing Dwarf: At least that has appeared in myths before. I’ve never even heard anyone make up a lie about something like this. Kekeke.
　└ Wild Grylls: (Video of a fish flying through the sky 1) (Video of a fish flying through the sky 2) Happy now?
　└ Passing Dwarf: Oh;; Do you have any idea why it’s doing that? It can’t be happening for no reason.
　└ Wild Grylls: It did eat some sky-whale poop I used as bait. I think that changed it somehow.

└ All-Father: Since the opportunity has presented itself, why don’t you try a bite as well, Mr. Grylls? It gives off such a pleasant fragrance that I imagine it would taste rather good too.

　└ Wild Grylls: Dude;;
　└ If that’s what you think, why don’t you eat it yourself? Why are you telling Grylls to do it? Kekekeke.
└ Isn’t that basically the same as eating curry-flavored poop?
　└ It really is curry-flavored poop. Haha.

All-Father briefly spouted some nonsense, but I had roughly identified the cause.

The ambergris I had used as bait.

That was the only thing I could think of.

Otherwise, there was no way this fish would suddenly go insane and start flying through the sky.

And most importantly—

‘Is this safe to eat?’

Could I really eat this thing?

What if eating it did more than merely make me sick and caused me to float around too?

But I couldn’t just leave it alone either. It might attract the attention of other animals.

If I couldn’t eat it, the safest course of action would be to release it.

I was about to return it to the river when—

Slap!

“Ghurk?!”

The instant I reached toward it, the fish smacked me across the cheek with its tail.

The impact was so powerful that I heard a sharp crack from my neck.

Thankfully, it hadn’t broken my neck. It had merely made a noise.

More importantly, the cheek it had struck was stinging badly. How could its tail be so powerful?

‘Did eating whale poop make it stronger too?’

So many absurd things had already happened that it seemed like a plausible hypothesis.

Then how was I supposed to bring this thing down?

After thinking for a moment, I lunged at the fish.

No matter how much it ignored gravity, it ought to fall if I pressed down on it from above.

Flap! Flappity-flap!

“Uwoooooagh?!”

Or so I thought, but I was completely wrong. Far from descending, it began swimming vigorously the moment I grabbed it.

It moved so quickly that the scenery flashed past me in real time.

Realizing I might end up falling somewhere strange at this rate, I desperately fought back.

Pow! Thud!

I punched the fish in the head.

No matter what kind of animal it was, a blow to the head should at least make it dizzy.

Hadn’t I always hit fish on the head whenever I needed to knock them unconscious?

Just as I expected, the fish soon passed out and went limp.

Naturally, my body plummeted toward the ground as well.

Crash! Thud!

I rolled several times before finally slamming into a tree and stopping.

My entire body ached. Grimacing, I brushed the dirt from my eyes and opened them.

The unconscious fish was twitching on the ground, while my animal friends stood at the shelter entrance staring at me.

They all wore expressions that seemed to ask, What the heck are you doing?

Kkobong and the fast sloth were one thing, but even Wonmo was looking at me that way. It was embarrassing.

“This fish is a menace.”

I had no idea what might happen if I ate it.

Since it was mealtime anyway, I hurriedly butchered it.

I intended to remove only its inner core and throw everything else away.

However—

‘Its inner core… is golden?’

There was something strange about it.

No, perhaps extraordinary would be a better description.

It shone with a brilliant golden radiance, as though it had captured the exact color of the ambergris.

Would eating this make me float through the sky as well?

If so, I would rather not eat it.

‘Should I give it to Fastsloth?’

Instead, I considered giving it to the fast sloth.

I figured that this creature might be able to control its effects.

“Want to eat it?”

“……”

Fastsloth accepted the inner core without the slightest hesitation.

It examined the core with its characteristically sluggish movements before putting it into its mouth.

It used to live on inner cores before we obtained fasting pills, so it would probably be fine.

Float—

Or so I thought. Was the core’s energy difficult even for Fastsloth to contain?

When it began gently floating upward, I hurriedly pressed down on its shoulders.

Fastsloth seemed perfectly fine, however, and waved its arms as if telling me to let go.

Float— Float—

Fastsloth levitated around every corner of the shelter for quite some time.

Fortunately, it appeared capable of controlling itself.

In the meantime, I finished eating with my animal friends.

Oh, and for the record, I fed Kkobong as well. Fastsloth had given me permission.

“Kyu! Kyukyu!”

Wonmo, who had been completely preoccupied with its food, began bouncing excitedly when it noticed Fastsloth.

It seemed to be asking me to let it fly too.

It was unbelievably adorable when it acted like that.

But if Wonmo climbed onto Fastsloth’s back, Fastsloth would quickly be crushed.

Even though Wonmo was still a cub, it was an owlbear. The fundamental difference in their size was simply too great.

“Kyii! Kyii!”

“Keng!”

So instead, I placed an equally adorable raccoon kit on its back.

The baby raccoon smiled brightly the instant it climbed atop the floating Fastsloth.

The father raccoon beneath them looked amused, while the mother raccoon looked worried.

“Kyu! Kyu!”

Wonmo, on the other hand, apparently became upset that it was the only one that couldn’t ride and sulked in a corner of the cave.

There was hardly anything cuter than a round little animal scrunching itself up in a corner.

I walked over to Wonmo, who was expressing I’m upset with its entire body, and spoke to it.

“Wonmo, cheer up. If I become able to fly later, I’ll give you a ride. Okay?”

“Kyuuu……”

I somehow managed to coax Wonmo back into a good mood.

Before long, Fastsloth also landed.

“Can you fly whenever you want?”

“……”

When I asked, Fastsloth shook its head.

Apparently, there was some kind of time limit.

If there weren’t, I might have been able to escape this place quickly.

‘It would be… a little much for me to eat one too, wouldn’t it?’

I hadn’t even mastered cold energy yet. Biting off more than I could chew would only cause trouble.

Besides, I wasn’t sure whether I could absorb it properly.

Fastsloth possessed better instincts than I did, so it had eaten the core because it knew it wasn’t dangerous.

But I had no way of knowing whether it was compatible with my body, so I had no choice but to put the matter off until later.

‘In any case, I can assume that ambergris grants the ability to fly… right?’

I had no idea what side effects it might carry.

I considered testing it on Kkobong as well, but since Kkobong couldn’t use mana anyway, wouldn’t that be pointless?

For now, I could only trust the instincts that had prompted Fastsloth to swallow it without hesitation.

Title: Discovered one effect of ambergris

Wild Grylls

(Video of Fastsloth floating through the air)
(Video of Fastsloth flying with a raccoon kit on its back)

Fastsloth ate the inner core of the fish that was using Void-Stepping, and now it can fly around like this.

Looks like ambergris gives things the ability to fly.

It can’t do it permanently, though. There’s a time limit. Still, there’s no denying how useful it is.

└ Heavenly Demon: I suddenly feel a peculiar sense of futility. This lady trained for years to attain Void-Stepping.
　└ SwordMaster: Years? How many years did you train in total?
　└ Heavenly Demon: I began when I was around ten years old, so exactly ten years.
　└ SwordMaster: I’m saying this as a Swordmaster: if you don’t want other people to beat the crap out of you, you shouldn’t say things like that.
　　└ Heavenly Demon: Why not? It was a full ten years.
　└ SwordMaster: Other people could devote their entire lives to training, never mind ten years, and still barely have a chance of becoming Swordmasters. Hahahahaha.
　└ I seriously want to beat the crap out of her. Kekeke.
　└ The Heavenly Demon is deliberately flexing on everyone, right? She has to be.
　　└ Grandmaster in only ten years? What a load of fucking bullshit. Hahaha.
　└ Heavenly Demon: Hmm. How strange. Why are they unable to accomplish something so easy?

└ All-Father: Then, Heavenly Demon, allow me to ask you one thing. Have you reached the end?
　└ Heavenly Demon: No. The closer I came, the farther away it seemed.
　└ All-Father: It is the same for me. No matter how deeply I delve into this accursed magic, there seems to be no end. Hohoho.
　└ Heavenly Demon: Something with an end would be more boring, if anything.

└ Wild Grylls: I’ll get upset if you tell me my escape has no end either.
　└ Heavenly Demon: Everything is better when it has an end.
　└ Look at this punk changing her tune. Kekeke.
　　└ She really watches what she says around Grylls, doesn’t she? Haha.
└ Every time I see her, it feels like the Heavenly Demon has a soft spot for Grylls.
　└ Praise the Sun: Hey, Grylls. Check out the post I uploaded. This shit is seriously amazing. Hahaha.

While the gallery’s reaction was heating up, Praise the Sun’s comment caught my eye.

If Praise the Sun had gone so far as to personally make a post, something quite entertaining must have happened.

Wondering what it was, I immediately searched for the post.

It must have been uploaded only moments ago, as it had barely received any upvotes.

Title: Review of sky-whale ambergris

Praise the Sun

(First-person video of flying through the sky)
(Video of a dark-elf attendant flailing frantically in the air)
(Video of Praise the Sun laughing heartily while shouting something in the Cetan language)

They said ambergris was incense, so I burned some. The smell is one thing, but gravity disappeared from the entire space. Hahaha.

Strictly speaking, it feels like being in an ocean where only air resistance exists. That makes it feel even more fucking amazing. Kekekeke.

He claimed that gravity had vanished from the entire space even though he had merely burned it as incense.

That taught me that it had an effect even when burned.

Not that it was of any immediate use to me.

When the time came, I intended to consume it directly rather than burn it as incense.

└ Wild Grylls: It looks fun just watching it. Did you really only burn it as incense?
　└ Praise the Sun: Yeah. I was thinking of going to sleep when my body suddenly floated into the air, so it startled me. Haha.
└ Why is that attendant freaking out so badly? Hahahaha.
　└ To be fair, I’d freak out too. Hahahaha.
└ Is it okay to upload this video? If that attendant uses the gallery, won’t they figure out who you are?

　└ Praise the Sun: Oh. You’re right. I was having so much fun that I forgot. I’ll go edit it.
└ Too late, dude. I already saved the video. Haha.
　└ Praise the Sun: Sigh. Do whatever you want. I don’t care whether it’s real life or the gallery. All that matters is having fun. Haha.
└ That does look pretty fun.

I thought this might be the first time I had ever seen Praise the Sun leave so many comments.

That showed just how excited he was.

For some reason, it made me feel proud.

└ Praise the Sun: I should invite my wives over so we can have fun together soon.
└ What are you going to do after inviting your wives?
　└ Praise the Sun: What else? We’ll get nice and filthy…

Hmm.

Let’s move on.

One ought to respect people’s personal preferences, shouldn’t one?

Although this was less a personal preference and more the behavior of a complete lunatic… I could honestly understand the appeal.

Doing that while floating through the sky?

He would be accomplishing a feat(?) that no one had ever achieved before.

Even Earth had only managed it after constructing space stations, so imagine how impossible it would be here.

‘Wait. You can fly just by burning it as incense?’

That thought made me look around.

Apart from the fireplace and the entrance, there were almost no openings through which anything could escape.

If I sealed those as well and burned the incense, couldn’t I enjoy the same experience as Praise the Sun?

‘……I have to do this right now.’

I could never resist doing something idiotic.

Afterward, I received instructions on using the incense and the necessary equipment from Praise the Sun.

“How is it, Wonmo? Isn’t this great?”

“Kyuuuuu! Kyuu!”

Thanks to that, we were able to enjoy an exhilarating zero-gravity experience.

“Uwooooooo! Woooooooah!”

Kkobong, however, didn’t seem to enjoy it very much.