After meditation, Evan stood up and stretched his limbs. No matter how many times he had done this before, he still would feel like his limbs had fallen asleep.
Once he had recovered, he made his way out of the house. Iva followed close to him, bouncing its slime body beside him or behind him as he walked. He wanted to do as he had told Iva earlier, back to the stone hill cave.
It didn't take him long to do so.
Reading the words at the smooth stone, going down the stairs, walking through the corridor and then back through the branching paths, Evan is back where he was, two days ago.
He looked at the same characters at the smooth stone, still unreadable to him.
Although Iva said that it had already translated it, Evan couldn't still understand what was on it. Is it because Iva isn't fluent that he couldn't read it?
It's not the same as when he can read the words outside the cave after Iva had read it for him the first time.
Eager to find out more, Evan made his way towards the right path. He had made a little progress on the left and he had a taste of what was there. If the right path will give him something else other than traps, he might have better chances of finishing this side before the left.
He continued through, the corridor a little narrower than where he had come from. The path is wiggly, with plenty of twists and turns.
"30 minutes." Iva reminds.
Evan sighs at suddenly hearing Iva. He almost forgot that he had asked Iva to remind him of the time. "Are you noticing anything weird?"
Iva is bouncing behind him because of the narrow hallway for a while now. "Not really. Just a couple of movements. Slower than slimes."
Evan furrowed his eyebrows, stopped walking and turns to Iva. "Movements huh? Can you scout ahead and tell me what you see?" He picks Iva up.
Iva bounced from his hand and back down on the ground again. "Hey. I didn't really want to go but you summoned me out and I don't have a choice. If you want to go, I'm not leading. Go first."
At Iva's words, Evan felt his left eye twitched a little bit. Evan if Iva the slime looks much stronger than before, it seems like it still cares more about its own safety than Evan at the moment.
They're both stronger, sure. But Evan understood being careful.
He sighs. "Fine. I'll take the lead. Just make sure that you'll fight when there's a fight though."
Iva only hums in response.
Evan turns back around to continue leading their way. Soon enough, the distance between the torches on the walls became further and further. The gaps became darker.
The only thing that Evan can here is Iva's bounces and something else moving further beyond them. It sounded like... Croaking? He can't really tell. But he stayed on his guard as he slowly walks closer and closer.
When he turns to the left, he saw numerous red frogs and they seem to be half of Evan's size even from a distance. They all had black spots in their body and had pure yellow eyes. There's still a few more feet between Evan and the frogs. Even then, there's probably more of the frogs here than the slime's he had fought with Iva before.
It doesn't seem like the frogs have noticed them yet, which is a relief. Until when that would be the case, Evan has no idea.
He stayed as still as he could, watching for a bit to see if the frogs have any habits or how they behave.
Evan's eyes widened when he saw one of the frogs leap. When they do, they leaped reaching the ceiling and sticking on it using its front legs.
He glanced up to look above his head to compare. He could reach the top if he sat on his dad's shoulders, maybe. With the frogs' leaping ability, it only meant that his Agility to run away will be useless because they can just catch up immediately, no matter how quick he ran.
"I don't think we should go." Iva says, jumping to settle on his shoulder. "They're more dangerous than the slimes."
Evan hums. "I need information. And we're already here so I'm going to check something." He looks at the closest frog. "Detect."
----- ----- -----
Ability Detect used!
Name: Black-Spotted Red Frog
Age: 56 years, 8 months, 1 day
HP: 50
MP: 15
Skills: Leap, Bound
Special Skill: [unavailable]
Strength/s: Water
Weakness/es: Fire, Slashing weapon
----- ----- -----
Evan narrowed his eyes at the information he had gotten. Why are the frogs much younger than the slimes that they had killed? That's weird.
The frogs are also much stronger than he is expecting. The Hit Points itself was more than double than the slimes. He would need an actual weapon if he wanted to stand a chance.
"30 minutes." Iva reminds him.
That is his cue.
"Let's go back for now, Iva." Evan says as he glanced on his shoulder. "I don't think any pointy stick is enough if they're way too quick. I would need something else."
"Like what?" Iva asked, as Evan turns around to walk to where they came from.
"Not sure yet. Something that would prevent them from moving maybe? Or something I got hit them while I'm from a distance away. I don't think I can handle them when in close distance."
Iva hums. "Why not use the Simulation Zone to see how you can kill them off now?"
Evan shook his head. "We've been here for a while. Even if I wanted to, I would still have to talk to my parents about Spire's letter. I've been here for almost two hours. They will be back soon."
"If you say so."
After Iva's reply, Evan looked back to check if the frogs even noticed them. Since they didn't, Evan continued walking back. "Oh before I forget, I'll unsummon you. Let me know if you can get any clue how to find the other part of the words were missing."
"Sure, will do~"
"Unsummon pet Iva." Evan muttered under his breath to get Iva back in.
Once Iva the slime disappeared from his shoulder, Evan spend the entire walk back to his house in silence.
There was still much things to learn about the stone hill cave. Apart from that, he barely scratched the surface of what his ability could really do. Sure, it was granted to him by a watch that was given to him, but he wasn't given any instructions on how to expand on it.
Even Iva as an addition that could explain some things to him, it didn't seem like Iva knows a lot either. But it did know about the ancient language that made him able to open the cave in the first place.
He needs to learn more and if he can somehow hasten the way to do so, he will not hesitate. Evan had been training a lot. So far, his levelling up was much faster if he was using what he had learned practically. The slimes he had killed with Iva got them to level 5 and the impromptu fighting he had with the Shadowling pushed him to level 10.
If he fought those frogs now, no doubt he would be higher than 10 by now when he's done. But one wrong move and he could be killed too. So, he knows when he needs to slow down for a little bit and try to cover up other things that he had gotten after the level up. He had the taming and crafting tab unlocked. He should focus on that for now.
However, there is still the letter, like he had told Iva that he had gotten. There was a messenger that was covered from head to toe with clothes. It was like he had made sure that no one can see his face apart from his eyes.
The only thing that the messenger brought was a satchel that had the letter. And he knew Evan's full name specifically, not his parents. That raised a different kind of guarded feeling for Evan.
What did Sir Theobald want from him and not his parents?
Evan has no clue.
It has been a while since he had last heard from either Spire and her dad. The last time was when Spire left after Sir Theobald promised to repay them someday.
How they intend to do that, is a mystery. Evan didn't want any repayment, so do his parents. They technically didn't save Spire. She just happened to appear in their house and Evan just so happened to find her in his room out of nowhere.
Well, guess there's only one way to find out what the nobles want from them. He will only be able to find out when his parents got back from work. He hoped that jam that he had delivered to his mom earlier this morning has also sold out. Just like it always did.