Tedious and boring. Three weeks had already passed. He had been in this world for 24 days. All it had been was consistent hunting and sleeping. Nothing exciting happened other than the usual large beast passing through the swamp.
Having almost been stepped on once, Emre finally decided to build a den within those 24 days. At first, he tried to build one nearby, but as expected, it didn't hold up very well.
As such, he had to resort to building a den that was on drier land. It wasn't too far, but it wasn't close either. He had found a good spot and spent half a day digging it out within the safety of some thick tree roots. It was just large enough to fit two of him inside it.
Not to mention, even though he had been hunting every day, he didn't manage to run across another one of those rabbits and had to resort to catching frogs and fish. He was growing terribly tired of the taste, but within these days, he had leveled up quite a bit.
He was now level 9. He decided to use his saved-up stat points and put them into his stats. He also earned a few more skills and leveled those up a bit. He was hard at work, to say the least. Looking at his stats now, they looked much better than they did before.
[ Name, Emre ] [ Spiny Lizard Hatchling ]
[ Lvl, 9/10 ] [ Exp, 0/500 ]
[ Stats ] [ Stat Points, 0 ]
[ Str, 9 ] [ Dex, 9 ] [ Int, 13 ]
[ Con, 6 ] [ Wis, 9 ]
[ Skills, Swimming [Lvl 6], Climbing [Lvl 2], Venom Bite [Lvl 8], Venom Spit [Lvl 2], Claw [Lvl 4], Ambush [Lvl 6], Perception [Lvl 5], Stealth [Lvl 5] ]
[ Titles, Other-Worlder, Tirian's Angel, Frog Slayer ]
He had earned Ambush, Perception, and Stealth. They were all pretty self-explanatory and were granted to him during his hunting endeavors. He stuck to ambushing the frogs from the water when they went to the surface. His perception and stealth allowed him to get a better feel of the water to catch fish.
Emre was quite proud of his progress so far. It was just terribly repetitive. Not to mention his new title which he wasn't quite as proud of. [Frog Slayer]… It was pretty obvious. He had gained it after killing frog after frog. He killed them more than the fish. They were easier to catch after all.
However, being alone was taking a toll on his motivation. As great of a companion that the emotionless proxy voice of Tirian provided, it simply wasn't cutting it. He tried by asking questions often, asking about this and that plant or about the large creatures he'd been seeing. His mental health simply wasn't improving.
But hey, now he knew about practically all of the plants in the area. Which were poisonous, which were healing herbs, and more. He even found plants that could be found on Earth.
He wondered how the frogs thought during their boring lifetimes. All he watched them do was swim around, eat bugs, and bask. Basically, exactly what Emre had been doing aside from the fact that the bugs were the frogs, but that's beside the point.
He was floating in the water, the top of his head resting just above the surface. A dragonfly-like bug had been pestering him for a few minutes but he had been too lazy to move spots. He came to the swamp right away that morning and was still working up the motivation to catch his morning meal.
Boredom ensued as he waited for a frog or fish to wander nearby. The light ripple of the surface nearby caught his attention, his golden eyes searching for a flash of silver that might indicate the scales of a fish.
As he was about to lower under the surface when a foreign sound entered his ears. Like a clattering of metal pieces falling upon the ground. Turning his head, he watched as the sunlight glinted off a silver light that suddenly burst through the trees on the edge of the swamp nearby.
It was a human. A man clad in armor. Emre was shocked. The person had rushed out of the undergrowth and scanned the area with a quick sweep of his eyes.
"It's clear!" His voice yelled.
It didn't sound like English, but he could understand the meaning of the words clearly. He could only assume this was Tirian's doing.
He watched with just his eyes barely poking above the surface as several other people began to file into the clearing with the first man. Emre couldn't count them all as they scattered in, but he could tell there were well over ten people.
Most of them were wearing the same type of silver armor, but Emre caught a glance of at least two people with different-looking attire. It was hard to see what was going on, but they kept shouting and the clattering sound of metal on metal didn't help much.
He seemed to go unnoticed as he swam closer, keeping just his small golden-colored eyes visible. At a closer look, one person with a fancy-looking white robe was looking over two people that were being held on makeshift stretchers. The blood that stained their armor indicated their injuries.
As he watched, he realized they were setting up camp as one of the more heavily armored men shouted out orders. The people looked exhausted and troubled as they moved about with their work.
Emre was trying his best to listen to what was being said, but he wasn't close enough and he wouldn't dare to try to get closer. He was really curious as to what they were doing here though.
This wasn't a regular adventuring party that one would expect in a fantasy world. This was a unit of some sort from an army. What were they doing out here? Not to mention, the closer he looked, half of these people were injured in some way. They all seemed to have gotten first-aid, but the two people on stretchers seemed to be heavily injured.
It was quite a few minutes of setting up before Emre managed to pick up the hearty voice of the guy who seemed to be the leader.
"There isn't time to rest before we lose them! We need to find the herb before it's too late! Search everywhere!" He barked out, pointing out toward the expanse of the swamp.
Emre wondered what herb it was. It was obvious they had gotten into a scuffle of some sort. Perhaps they had just been running from someone? Or something? He could only theorize as the humans began to shuffle through the foliage surrounding the swamp.
He knew about a lot of the herbs in the area. Not that he would be able to help them. He didn't really have a reason to, nor thought that they would appreciate the help of a monster like him. Sure he was a baby, but he was still the size of a small dog. That was still quite big for a lizard!
He moved deeper into the water as a couple of soldiers neared the shoreline that he had been near. They were searching the water's edge for the plant as well as the plants in the treeline.
"Ugh… we don't even know what it looks like other than that it's black." One of the soldiers complained.
"Well, we need to look hard anyway. If we don't, Andy and Milla will die." Another one responded.
"I know that!" The first one barked back as he kicked a bush.
Emre listened, with narrowed eyes. A black plant… He knew exactly what plant was that color. It was the only black herb in the Black Swamp. The Black Hydani. They were looking in the wrong places. It wasn't on land, it was in the water.
As he looked around, he noticed the soldiers were only looking on the land. At this rate, those two people were going to die. But the Black Hydani, huh…? That meant they had run into a dragon. He figured a dragon would tear humans apart easily. Maybe the Spardic Dragon was small? Regardless, it was venomous and those people were going to die if they didn't get their feet wet.
"Damn it! We even have a healer with us and they can't even do anything!" The first man was complaining again.
"They warned us before we came into the forest that they couldn't heal dragon venom. We knew what we were getting into." The other man responded with exasperation.
"What good are the--"
"Just shut up and look, Eric!"
Emre scoffed at the yell. Jeez, these guys were in the deep end, huh? He began to move away from the shoreline more. It seemed they were pretty stressed out over their friends being poisoned. Well, who wouldn't be? The problem was his own moral code.
He had access to the herb and knew exactly where it was. He had used it as a comfy bed a few times so he would know. He could save these two people. But he was a monster and they were humans.
Was trying to help these people worth the risk? It was definitely causing some inner turmoil. Inwardly sighing, he slowly floated to one of the deeper parts of the area. He watched the bustling energy around this section of the swamp until he felt like eyes had landed on him.
He knew it was inevitable for someone to notice him, but at this point, he was pretty deep in the water and he hadn't heard any splashing to indicate that someone was coming for him. Why would you go out of your way to attack a little lizard that was barely a threat compared to the dragon you had just dealt with?
Looking around, he tried to find the source of the gaze. Finally, at the camp they had set up, he noticed the robed person looking toward him. Was this the healer they had mentioned before? They were the only person not wearing armor after all.
It wasn't a very obvious gaze. They seemed to be resting beside the injured, sitting on a nearby log. It's not like they were at the water's edge staring at him. The question was, how did they see him from so far away? Was the little bit of his head peeking out, that noticeable?
Regardless, Emre found himself staring back toward the human. He couldn't make out any discernible features from this far away aside from the white robe and actually quite surprising, long silver hair. Although messy, their hair was pulled back into a braid.
When one of the injured stirred, the person even seemed reluctant to look away to tend to them. What the hell? Emre was sure that none of these strong-looking soldiers would be threatened by his wee self. Hell, they could probably even kick his small body to space if they wanted to. So why was that healer staring at him so persistently?
It was kinda creepy.
"So annoying!!" Emre was startled out of his thoughts by the same complainant man as before.
Just shut up already! Emre was fed up with the soldier and his pitiful self. Do you want to save your friends or not? So annoying! You are the annoying one! Irritated, Emre dove into the water to escape the gaze of the healer and the loud ruckus of the annoying guy. He didn't even get the chance to really think about if he wanted to help them.
That loud soldier was being so whiny that Emre would help them just to shut him up. Yeah, that was totally the case. It was all because he was annoyed… Not because he just wanted to help… Yeah. Besides! What harm could it be?
He swam to the familiar spot and stopped as he touched the plants in the murky water below with his little lizard hands. It was a large cluster that he had first found but it had been mostly covered by the dirt and sand once more. One a few fronds of the herb were sticking out.
With an inward sigh, he pulled off a small mouthful of the fronds and swam back to the surface. Once more, his little eyes poked out of the water but kept his nose angled down so the fronds weren't visible.
He had swum in the opposite direction of the camp to get here so he slowly began to float closer. Alerting them with fast movement is the last thing he wanted to do. Ah, wait!
His eyes located the healer. They weren't in the camp anymore. They were walking along the shoreline as well, searching through the foliage. Should he bring this to the healer instead of some random soldier? The healer was the healer after all… Reluctantly, he began to slowly move toward where the person was.
The healer was alone as they turned away from inland and began to look at a small cluster of leafy plants at the shoreline. Emre had thought he wasn't close enough to be noticed yet, but once the healer glanced up from the herbs, their eyes instantly locked onto Emre's. They looked shocked.
Now that he was closer, he realized that the healer was actually quite beautiful. A soft-looking, yet masculine-like face with long, although messy, silver hair. Their eyes were a stunning bright blue. Truly the epitome of a pretty white-haired and blue-eyed guy that you would see in anime. It was difficult to tell whether they were a man or a woman. Emre had stopped the moment they locked eyes. He was hesitating.
Then the healer smiled. It was a gentle smile as they crouched down, getting their robe terribly muddy in the process. It seemed they didn't care much about their appearance right now if they were willing to get their white clothing stained. But despite it, they still seemed proper as their hands sat neatly on their knees.
"It's okay." Their voice was soft, and a tad more masculine than feminine. "My name is Silvis." They introduced.
They seemed to be trying to reassure him. Wait! Why are you introducing yourself to a lizard?! Emre was astonished. His eyes narrowed and he felt even more reluctant. Maybe he should have just thrown the herbs at a soldier and ran away. He sighed once more.
Why did things have to be so difficult? Well, at least the healer didn't seem very mean. They were just weird in his opinion. Nevertheless, his hesitation was quite obvious. Silvis's brows rose in a bit of concern due to it.
"I'm a Priest of Tirian, the Goddess of Creation. I won't harm you." They continued further as if that would compel a swamp monster.
Even so, Emre stirred at Tirian's name unintentionally. Crap. He scolded himself internally. Tirian had even told him that she was known as a name here. On Earth, everyone just called the God, 'God'. Plus Tirian didn't say that she was the God of Earth, just that she was a Goddess of Erani.
Regardless, it seemed her presence here was more apparent than the God for Earth. It seemed that Tirian was pretty important. Silvis's expression had even changed to that of surprise.
"It's strange…" They began as if talking to themself. "To think that a monster would know her name…"
Emre narrowed his eyes. Hey! I can hear you! I'm way smarter than you think! He looked away in irritation.
"I knew I saw something radiant around you when I first noticed you." They spoke again, catching his attention back.
Him? Radiant? The thought was very odd. He didn't even believe in God in his previous life. Why would he be radiant-- WAIT! He remembered one of his titles! Tirian's Angel! He was an angel of Tirian! Oh… He was an angel of Tirian…
He felt dread in his heart at the thought. Did that mean he would have some sort of holy responsibility in this world? He didn't want to be a Priest. Hell, he couldn't even heal! As Emre dealt with another inner conflict, Silvis spoke once more.
"Are you able to understand me, little one?"
Emre hesitated once more before slowly nodding his head. Due to it, the plants in his mouth bobbed to the surface and back down again. Silvis's blue eyes widened.
"So you can…" They mumbled at first before tilting their head. "What do you have there?"
Emre lifted his head up, revealing the herbs clasped in his jaws.
"Black Hydani!" They were astonished before reaching out their hand. "Please, can I have that?"
Emre squinted and swam a bit closer. What if this person tried to snatch him up and take him away forcibly? He stopped a few feet away before letting go of the herbs and pushing them with the water toward Silvis.
They quickly leaned over, placing one hand in the mud as they reached out and grabbed the herbs out of the water.
"This…" Their expression changed to that of concern. "It won't be enough." It was barely half a handful for them.
Emre inwardly sighed, as he had been doing often, and turned around. He dove into the water back toward the cluster of herbs. This time, he shoved as much of it in his tiny mouth as possible before swimming back up. When he broke the surface, a soldier was standing beside Silvis now, talking to them as they remained crouched at the water's edge.
"You found some?!" The soldier was questioning as they looked down at Silvis.
Emre was already quickly swimming back over, ignoring the soldier. There was no way that Silvis would allow him to be harmed by that soldier if he was in some way radiant. He even held his head fully above the water so Silvis would see him coming over with more herbs.
"In a way." Silvis sounded excited as they pointed toward Emre who was paddling over.
The soldier looked toward where they were pointing before gasping. To think that Silvis would be getting aid from a swamp monster!
"Priest! You shouldn't be getting near that." The soldier spoke in discontent.
"It's fine. I promise." Silvis responded, disregarding the soldier's warning with ease.
Stupid soldier. Emre scoffed as he brought up the herbs. He didn't bring them directly to them again and instead used the water to push the herbs forward once more. Silvis quickly snatched the herbs out of the water and stood up.
"Thank you so much, little one." They hurriedly thanked before starting quickly down the shoreline back toward the camp.
Emre began to follow, swimming adjacent to them as they rushed back. He wasn't offended by the hurriedness, knowing that two people's lives were on the line. The annoying one now, was the soldier rushing after Silvis with a glare clear on his face. He was watching Emre like a hawk.
Ungrateful. He wanted to hiss at the soldier but stopped abruptly once he realized that he was almost at the shoreline of the camp. People were too focused on Silvis rushing back to notice him. Of course, other than the soldier that was already aware of his presence.
He could only watch from here, refusing to get close enough to possibly be snatched up by one of the soldiers. The camp became bustling as they cleaned the muck of the herbs as much as possible before Silvis started doing what they needed to do to prepare the herbs.
He practically just saved two lives, didn't he? He'd only been in this world for three weeks and he was saving people. He really wished he was a human already. But no, he was a little baby lizard. Tsk.
Why couldn't Tirian have just put him in this world as a human? But then again, wouldn't it take even longer to get anything done as a human…? Unless he was thrown into the world as a fully developed one. Which again, didn't seem that practical. Not that even coming to a new world was. But, maybe it would be better this way. He was almost level 10 anyways. Then he would be one step closer to becoming a dragon, and in turn, a human.
Well, at least he decided to do something good today. But he was hungry now…
[ Aided in Healing a Human, 1000 experience gained ]
[ Aided in Healing a Human, 1000 experience gained ]
[ You leveled up ]
[ You leveled up ]
[ You leveled up ]
[ Gained 6 stat points ]
[ You can evolve ]
[ Unlocked Tirian's Angel minimum skills ]
[ Skill gained, Light ]
[ Skill gained, Healing Touch ]
[ Skill gained, Light Bolt ]
What… WHAT?!