Travel Frog

Griffin!

Chocobo!

Mu You practically drooled at the sight.

He had never expected to find such famous magical creatures for rent in a shabby little village!

Unfortunately, he couldn't afford any of them.

Even a random Magical Creatures entity required a deposit of several hundred years, while he had only a few dozen years of lifespan in total. These prices clearly weren't meant for beginners like him.

Mu You tapped the "Beast Keeper" text, thinking, I raise pets too. Since we're in the same business, couldn't you give me a discount?

But after searching for ages, he couldn't find a single option to haggle.

In the end, Mu You could only swallow his envy and rent a Little Donkey.

Of course, for a creature worth only ten years in total, paying the deposit was practically the same as buying it outright. It wouldn't be worth making a special trip to return it later, and even if he did, the owner might not be willing to refund his deposit.

[You paid a deposit of ten years and obtained the right to use the Little Donkey. You mounted the Little Donkey and left the village.]

[You chose the road leading north. Continuing straight in this direction will take you into the eerie Dark Forest.]

[Traveling. Estimated time to destination: 16 hours...]

For the first time, the game displayed a travel notification. The trip would take a full sixteen hours, during which he would have to leave his phone on. He couldn't do anything else in the game, only let it idle.

Fortunately, traveling consumed the donkey's stamina, not his own.

"Sixteen hours. That means I won't get there until tonight..."

With nothing else to do, Mu You left the game running and tried to sleep.

But before he could fall asleep, he glanced at his phone to check the battery one last time-and discovered that another event had appeared on the screen.

[You encountered a Black-Spotted Spider lurking by the roadside, spinning a web!]

[Your donkey was bitten to death by the Black-Spotted Spider! Lifespan -1.]

[Thanks to the Invisibility Cloak, the Black-Spotted Spider did not notice you, and you survived. Would you like to launch a surprise attack?]

"For fuck's sake, can't a guy get some sleep?"

Mu You's face darkened. He would have to pay for the donkey getting bitten to death!

Every time a rented pet died, that much lifespan would be deducted from his deposit when he returned it. So killing the donkey was effectively the same as killing him!

There was nothing he could do. Sleep was clearly out of the question; he would have to keep watching his phone. Otherwise, this donkey, which was even more useless than he was, would die every time it ran into a wild monster. Who could afford that?

[You drew the Bone-Shattering Knife, crept up to the Black-Spotted Spider, and killed it with a single strike!]

[You killed the Black-Spotted Spider. Lifespan +1, Experience Points +1. Obtained Spider Venom Gland ×1, Black-Spotted Spider Silk ×1.]

[You continued onward on your donkey and spotted a Jungle Bat resting upside down on a tree branch. Attack...?]

"Yes!"

[You killed the Jungle Bat. Lifespan +1, Experience Points +1.]

[You continued onward and spotted an Electric Eel in a stream beside the road, using its glowing feelers to lure other creatures closer. Attack...?]

"Yes!"

[You killed the Electric Eel. Lifespan +1, Experience Points +2. Obtained Thunder Gland ×1, Glowing Eyeball ×2.]

Sure enough, once he left the village, the number of dangerous little creatures along the road increased sharply. He ran into one practically every few steps.

These level-one and level-two creatures no longer posed any threat to Mu You, especially now that he had a Bone-Cleaver. Anything that wasn't too strong could generally be killed with a single strike.

Since he was traveling on the donkey anyway, Mu You casually slaughtered everything he encountered, whether it was aggressive or not, earning Experience Points and some mostly useless materials.

As for the stamina consumed in battle... killing monsters cost lifespan anyway, so he could simply spend lifespan to replenish whatever stamina he used. Fighting wouldn't slow his journey down.

He kept staring at his phone until four or five in the morning, when he finally couldn't take it anymore. He paused his journey, logged out, and hurried to catch up on sleep.

At seven that morning, his alarm woke him right on schedule. Yawning, he got up with dark circles under his eyes and resumed grinding.

Previously, his routine had been five minutes online followed by ten hours offline. Suddenly switching to an all-day hardcore grind took some getting used to.

On the bed beside him, Cola had developed much the same sleep schedule. Woken by the alarm too, Cola reached for the phone and resumed binge-watching Naruto.

In just over a week, this little fiend had plowed through more than five hundred episodes of Naruto! The phone stayed plugged into its charger all day without ever being disconnected. Mu You could only concede defeat.

When he logged in, he was still at the spot where he had stopped the night before.

Mu You continued riding the donkey toward his destination, and sure enough, all sorts of bizarre little creatures kept jumping out to block his path.

He turned none of them away, taking down everything that appeared. Watching his Experience Points rise bit by bit kept it from feeling too tedious.

He dawdled along like this until eight, when the shop opened. Both hardworking young women had arrived punctually, and their slacker of a manager felt too embarrassed to keep hiding in his room playing games.

Mu You got out of bed and changed, ready to head downstairs and make his presence as the manager felt.

Just then, however, a new notification on his phone caught his attention.

[You continued onward on your donkey and suddenly spotted a Pocket Toad paddling in a stream beneath the trees. Chase it?]

He had encountered another unfamiliar little monster in the game.

But unlike all his previous encounters, which had asked, "Attack?", this one asked, "Chase it?"

Attacking and chasing were two completely different things!

Sensing that this might be an unusual monster, Mu You hurriedly tapped the "Pocket Toad" text.

[The Pocket Toad is a wondrous creature with an instinct for finding treasure. It enjoys wandering through the wilderness, searching for treasures of all kinds and storing its finds in the pocket beneath its belly. Its pocket possesses a degree of spatial power, allowing it to hold far more items than its appearance suggests. If you can catch it, you may discover treasure inside its pocket! Chase it?]

A walking treasure chest? Mu You immediately chose to chase it!

[Using your invisibility to your advantage, you crept up to the toad, then leaped up and lunged at it!]

[Unfortunately, Pocket Toads are naturally alert and react extremely quickly. The instant you lunged, it hopped to the left and vanished into the woods.]

[You fell into the pool, covering yourself in muddy water and ending up in a sorry state!]

"Damn it, I knew it wouldn't be that easy!"

Mu You hurriedly pressed the Pocket Watch.

[Time rewound. You returned to five seconds ago.]

[Knowing that the toad would jump to the left, you set a Beast Trap in the woods to the left before attempting to catch it.]

[You returned to your original position and lunged at the toad again. The toad jumped once more and landed squarely in the trap cage with a snap!]

[You caught the Pocket Toad! Searching its pocket, you found one Phoenix Feather.]

"Nice!"

Mu You's eyes lit up. He had thought he would need to rewind at least several times, but he had caught it on the very first try. Apparently, this toad wasn't all that clever!

He hurried to inspect his loot.

[Phoenix Feather: Can negate one death. Upon death, you may choose to burn the feather to revive on the spot with full health.]

"Holy shit!"

Mu You was delighted by what he read.

Negating one death only amounted to an extra year of lifespan in the game, but in the real world, it meant an actual second chance at life!

Clearly, consuming this feather in the game would be a terrible waste. He had to take it out and save it for use in the real world to get its true value.

Mu You was just about to tap the text to retrieve the feather when another message appeared in the game.

[The Pocket Toad struggled in your hands, begging you not to kill it. It is willing to sign a contract with you and become your Familiar. Accept the contract?]