'Is it a plague? Nah, they won't be leaving this much in the house without going out. Well, monster attacks and bandit raids are plausible, but I see no collateral damage inside the house.'
Annoyed at Kivas who thought too hard instead of doing something, the Zashiki-warashi dragged Kivas' jello-like claw onto the outside. After both of them had gone outside, she then pointed at the sky.
'Uhm, I can't see beyond my torch illumination.'
The Zashiki-warashi was surprised. Kivas didn't know why she was surprised, but it seemed like she could read his thoughts. Just like how Kivas tried to think deeply about the mysterious disappearance of the cottage dweller, the Zashiki-warashi caressed her chin as she tilted her head, trying to filter an idea for herself.
Confused, Kivas began to try deducing what was troubling the Zashiki-warashi.
And thus, both of them began to think deeply about life, unmoving like a stone with one hand on the chin. Because of their subconscious connection as a non-human, both of them began to reach an understanding of each other. The Zashiki-warashi also eventually forgot what she was trying to convey, and both of them began to create a weird bond amongst themselves. As such, both of them compromised that neither of them know many things in life.
But the Zashiki-warashi suddenly snapped out of her synchronous trance, and decided to just glare at Kivas in an attempt to convey another message.
'What is it?'
"We art going to receiveth a crush from a giant stone man."
'Ah.'
Hundreds of meters above and beyond the illumination of his torch, was a 600 meters stone giant that was going to use the entire village as its footing.
Alas, their bond might only last momentarily, but the time they tried to search for enlightenment together would never be forgotten. Thus, in front of the door of death, were a playful smiling child that was thanking for everything with a bow in front a small slime-like tadpole.
"If there art a chance we may encounter one another, I shall be pleased to serve you in white kimono, my comrade of enlightenment."
'Likewise, your mind is both mature and immature, but your heart is purer than the ominous color of your dress. If there is a chance, we shall continue our journey when fate aligns.'
Both of them died with a smile.
Well, the Zashiki-warashi didn't technically die as she could choose to become tangible and ethereal to the material world. But the moment her summoner died, she would be forced to return back to her former world.
Regardless of the fact that his run ended on a positive note, Kivas would soon experience what he would call as….
The Ten Streaks of Death.
From this point and onward, Kivas would get spawned into numerous different places that would cause an instant death to him.
He spawned 500 meters in the sky, on top of a volcano, right below a snow avalanche, an abandoned ship that was immediately swallowed by a titanic octopus monster, and many more atrocious place
Whether the description of the Zashiki-warashi was true or not, Kivas began to think that these were all caused by the leave of the Zashiki-warashi.
'The description did mention…'
White zashiki-warashi is a sign of good things to hum, and the sight of a red one is a sign that a zashiki-warashi would leave the family, leading to bad things to come.
'Urgh.'
If Kivas were to get a nickel every time he immediately died after spawning, he would get eleven, which is actually quite the substantial amount.
'I guess this will be my 22nd run…'
With the number of the minutes requirement of survival to get the purple orb, Kivas felt like this would be the run that would get him far.
So for the twenty-two times, he grabbed the stem of the Torch of Blight.
Filled with determination, Kivas decided to give his all to break the cycle of death into the ever living exploration that he dreamed of.
He was spawned on top of a tree. The leaves rustled as the slime-like tadpole body of his went through the branches.
But before he got to land onto the ground, he instinctively grabbed the branch of the tree with one of his two front claws.
'Not gonna fall to that one.'
Right below him was a yawning flora trap of nature. Spawning at roughly the width and length of 6 meters, the deadly pit with thousands of teeth was anticipating the food that appeared out of nowhere.
But unknown to Kivas, the carnivorous plants were not only on the ground.
For the branch of the tree that he grabbed upon was also carnivorous.
Vines began to lunge towards Kivas. But unlike the ten death streaks from before, Kivas sensed what was up and immediately threw his own body to the sky. He parried one of the vine with the heel of his claw, before using the failed vine to swing himself out of the barrage of others tentacle-like vines.
He got a purple orb from that encounter. He then immediately allocated the orb into [Blight Expansion] to give him a better view of what was going on.
'I won't fall to accidental death anymore!'
It seemed like the ten death streaks that he experienced had sharpened his senses and instinct. Unlike before, Kivas would feel a tingle on the direction of his body surface that indicated where the danger was coming from.
And thus, with great acrobatics and judgment, Kivas managed to escape the death as he went into the direction that didn't trigger his danger radar. With pride and excitement, Kivas had successfully sent an obligatory middle finger to whoever deity or gods that was in charge of his death.
Filled with zeal and gusto, Kivas began his exploration of new things and stuff that would give him a purple orb. If possible, Kivas wanted a non-hostile monster to interact with so that he could get the [Tautology] into the drawing pool.
But so far, the forest has been filled with nothing but carnivorous plants. Some of them even had legs and turned Kivas scared shitless due to how freaky they were.
'T-that is straight out of a horror movie!'
Just as he managed to shake off his trail from the sprinting plant with giant teeths, he stumbled upon a violet glade with ruins of the old covered with moss and a spice of wind chime.