After a few hours of walking through the unknown side of the carnivorous forest, the peculiar trio took a break near the foot of the mountainous domain.
The orange rays of the afternoon casted bright shadows, orchestrated by the swaying leaves to accompany the three curious and bright individuals.
"Our journey will be a lot smoother after we completely leave this wretched forest." Angravada smiled in triumphant joy, as she prepared her tent and numerous miscellaneous to survive while making themselves comfy for the rest of the night. "And to some extent, I'm thankful to my past selves for bringing extra clothes that I can use."
And with their activity no longer filled with hack and slashing wild and deadly vegetation of the forest, Kivas could rest his mind at ease as there won't be anything that could disturb his session with the shiny red orb orbiting his Torch of Blight.
"You still need to wash off all of that digestive juice, lass." Kivas slashed the branches of the tree with his spectral-linked limbs. "I might not have any nose, but I can tell that you stink."
"I'm not the only one that got swallowed, though…"
"Anywho, it's wonderful that we can acquire two more purple orbs on our journey there, I've finally got some of the upgrades I wanted for a while." Kivas clashed the flint on the fire-starting set that was given by the rodent lass. He had successfully lit the bonfire. "Phew, this thing sure is useful."
"Still, brother, the concept of combining five orbs of enhancement into one of a higher tier is something of an interesting mechanic that your torch has there!" Semper chuckled.
"I didn't get this function from the beginning, it comes with one of the orbs that I acquired before I came to that realm."
"So the torch itself also evolves with the user, I see." Semper put on a face of amusement. "If that is the case, then there might still be more function waiting for you to unlock it, brother."
"While it excites me to the bone, the fact that there is a mystery to this torch still scares me sometimes."
Within the last three hours, there was actually a 20 minute session of getting chased by a giant armored snake.
The creature managed to swallow both Kivas and Angravada whole, along with Semper who was hanging on the stem of Kivas' dorsal hand. It didn't take long enough to find out that the internal organs of the snake were as hard as the exterior to theoretically prevent a destructive retaliation of the victim that it swallowed.
Thankfully, Kivas still had one charge of Hidden Takamagahara on his torch, waiting to be unleashed. The snake was cut open from inside, instantly killing the armored snake.
The group then decided to take some bits of the snake meat and cook them on the spot as a gesture of pettiness right in front of the limp snake's corpse, before they continued their journey with belly full right after.
It also turned out that there was no official name for this giant armored snake for it hadn't been sighted before in this forest. Thus, Kivas named this species 'Rocky Bal-boa' due to its aggressive nature.
But because Angravada thought that it was too fitting of a name for a snake that almost had their lives, the name was further changed to 'Danger Noodle' to spit at the armored snake further in its grave.
Kivas then acquired two purple orbs in total for encountering the snake, and also realizing that the snake had no sense for sighting this whole time.
'Nature is scary,' thought Angravada.
'Nature is amazing,' thought Kivas.
As Kivas turned five of the purple orbs into a singular red orbs after checking out their content, the rest two were allocated to [Blight Expansion], giving him a total of 12 meters range of universal perception.
"Now, it's time to find out what we will get from this great, majestic red orb!" Kivas posed as he raised one of his front limbs like a superstar.
"What it'll be? What it'll be?" said Semper. "Will it be the newfound core of strength, and life-changing discovery that surpasses the coil between mortal and life? Or will it be the breakthrough of nature whom we always know deep in our heart?"
"I don't know what is really happening but I'm hype!" shouted Angravada as she did the same superstar pose right beside Kivas. "Will it turn out delicious? Or something that I will definitely not understand for the rest of the week?"
And so, Kivas began to dramatically reach out for the orbiting red orb like it was grasping for the light of hope at the end of a long tunnel.
"Touchy~!"
Just like back then, the red orb ascended a meter before splitting into two magnificent waves of crimson flame, riding to the left and right direction before falling down like a curtain to form a burning crimson panel for the selections of the available boon.
Even though it was the second time Kivas beheld this spectacle, it still felt like a first time experience.
"Such a display!" Semper grinned.
"Okay, the hype is real!" Angravada's excitement went up tenfold, which was much greater than the time she saw the spectacle for the purple orb that Kivas opened for the [Blight Expansion].
Between the two choices, there was a great mental predicament for the potential of what the symbols might turn out to be.
The first choice on the left possessed the symbol for an umbrella with a single eye and mouth with a long tongue, as the end of the shaft formed a foot equipped with a japanese wood sandal with a tooth called geta.
The second choice on the right had the symbol of a six fingered open palm. There might be numerous implications with this choice of boon and it could turn out really great or downright awfully irreversible in terms of damage to Kivas' chances of survival.
"Hmm, this is a hard choice." Kivas pondered.
"So we were left with nothing but to guess what the boons might be. Quite an adventurous one for whoever thought of this."
"I still don't fully know what was happening, but don't you think that it will be more useful if we have an umbrella in case of rain or storm?" Angravada raised her index, still with a face full of confusion.
"Assuming that if we took reference on how some of these enhancements were materialized in the form of physical body part change like what Kivas told us." Semper widely grinned. "Won't it turn him into a giant parasol if that was the case?"
"Isn't that a situation with no demerit??" Angravada seemed to lean into that direction.
"Me being an umbrella won't really save us from the bother of a storm, though…" Kivas wondered on whose side they were on. "Still, if what I thought about this turns out to be true, then we might get a new companion instead of turning into a personification of parasols."
"New companion?" Angravada tilted her head.
"Please elaborate further, brother, I'm deeply interested."
"Both of you see, there are many types of boon that can be granted from the orbs of this torch. One of them is called the 'Boon of Youkai'." Kivas went to the nearest tree and began to carve numerous depictions of mythical creatures of Japanese folklore using the pointy ends of his limbs. Floating flaming wheels with a head as the center, giant spider with half woman body sprouting from its arachnid head, a man with long neck, and numerous kitchen clay utensils being depicted with legs, mouth, and eyes. "Otherwise known as strange apparition.
"They are a class of supernatural entities and spirits, composed of demon, fairy, monster, ghost, specter, and even part of gods in some iteration. In their folklore, their depiction ranged from malevolent, mischievous, to even benevolent to us.
"In one of my previous attempts to not kick the bucket, I've drawn a boon that summoned one of these mystical entities. Seeing how the depiction of the umbrella symbol is similar to one of the youkai I knew in my past life, we might be getting an umbrella friend if we choose that boon."
"It struck me that your drawing is amazingly intricate, brother."
"Hmmhmm! Drawing is a former hobby of mine. Back in my world, you can actually get money by selling art through the amazing information network system called the 'Internet'."
"Now that you carefully drew the sticking tongue of those monsters, I began to reconsider my opinion on the Mr. Umbrella…" said Angravada, feeling disgusted at how intricate the illustration was on the tree.
After more non-anonymous discussion, they decided to choose the umbrella boon.
-Boon of Youkai-
-Class: Normal Variant-
[Kasa-obake: The Smelting Of Ippon-Datara]
-Many blacksmiths lost an eye when checking the color of the fire to measure its temperature. Many blacksmiths lost a leg when pushing the tatara furnaces. These artisans wore geta to avoid the heat of the floor, and their hearts are so passionate, they are friends with the all-welcoming death door-
-The one-eyed, one-legged youkai, with a mouth and a protruding tongue. They were majorly known as the Karakasa Obake. There are many types of Karakasa Obake, the one with one leg and wearing a geta particularly, have somewhat shown the great skill of an ancient blacksmith. This capability transcends civilization and time, which allows them to be capable of appraising and analyzing all kinds of ores and metals, leading to a birth of processed object with it. Whether it was a weapon or everyday-life living utensil, this Karakasa Obake is the master of its craft-