Treasure (3)

Staring at a fish swimming freely through the empty air just like the Sky Whale, I was left utterly dumbfounded.

The Sky Whale was a mythical leviathan, so its miraculous existence could at least be chalked up to supernatural wonder. Or had this creature been flopping across the dirt like a lungfish, that too would have been within the realm of reason. What unfolded before my eyes, however, completely shattered every shred of rational expectation.

If this world had been a video game, you could have called it a game-breaking bug without the slightest exaggeration.

Pop! Gulp!

The fish glided through the air with effortless grace, paddling through empty space as smoothly as if it were ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠swimming in the clearest river. If it could do that, what purpose did its gills and fins even serve? The Sky Whale had already thumbed its nose at the laws of physics, but this little bastard went one step further.

Allfather had spouted his usual eccentric nonsense, but I had gathered the essential clue. The ambergris used as bait. That was the only plausible culprit. Barring that supernatural excretion, there was no earthly reason for this fish to lose its mind and swim through thin air.

And that brought me to the most critical question of all.

Can I actually eat this thing?

Would it be safe to ingest? What if eating it didn't just upset my stomach, but sent me floating uncontrollably into the stratosphere? Even so, leaving it to hover out in the open wasn't an option either. A levitating fish would act like a beacon for every bizarre predator in the vicinity. If it was unfit for consumption, returning it to the river was the safest call.

Just as I reached out to scoop it toward the water—

SLAP!

"Gah?!"

The split second my fingertips neared it, the fish whipped its tail around and cracked me across the cheek. The blow was so ferocious that an audible crack! rang out from my vertebrae. Fortunately, my neck hadn't snapped, only popped from the whip of the impact, but my cheek burned like hell. How on earth did a river fish possess that much tail strength?

Did eating whale droppings grant it super strength too?

Having witnessed so many absurdities in this forest, it felt entirely plausible. But how was I supposed to bring this airborne lunatic down? After a moment of frantic deliberation, I lunged forward to tackle it. No matter how thoroughly it defied gravity, pinning it from above ought to drive it into the dirt.

Flap! Flap-flap-flap!

"Whoaaaaagh?!"

My assumption couldn't have been more wrong. Far from being dragged down, the moment my arms locked around it, the fish kicked into high gear and paddled furiously forward through the air. It rocketed ahead at such blinding speed that the forest scenery blurred past in real time. Terrified that it might drag me into some horrific den of monsters, I fought back with everything I had.

Thwack! Crack!

I buried my fist repeatedly into the fish's skull. Striking the head of any beast is guaranteed to scramble its senses. Hadn't I always stunned river fish with a swift blow to the noggin? Sure enough, after a few solid strikes, the fish went limp, knocked completely unconscious.

Naturally, gravity remembered I existed, and I plummeted straight toward the earth.

Crash! Thud!

I tumbled across the rough dirt several times before slamming back-first into a tree trunk, finally grinding to a halt. Every bone in my body throbbed with a dull ache. Wincing, I wiped the grit from my eyes and blinked open my lids.

On the ground beside me, the stunned fish twitched weakly. Over by the entrance to the shelter, my animal companions stood frozen, staring at me in silence. Every single one of them wore an expression that screamed: Bro, what the hell are you even doing? Getting that look from Ggobongi and Fast Tree Sloth was one thing, but being judged like that by Wonmo was downright humiliating.

This fish is toxic. In every sense of the word.

There was no telling what catastrophe might unfold if I ate its flesh. Since it was mealtime anyway, I promptly set to butchering it on the spot. My plan was simple: extract its inner core and discard the rest. However...

Wait... the core is golden?

The Neidan was bizarre. Or perhaps calling it extraordinary was more accurate. It radiated a brilliant, luminous golden sheen, as if it had captured the very essence and luster of the ambergris itself. If I swallowed this, would I start drifting into the clouds too? If that was the risk, I'd rather pass.

Should I give it to Ppareumbo?

I considered passing it off to Fast Tree Sloth instead. My reasoning was that a beast of his caliber could easily master whatever energy resided within it.

"You want this?"

"..."

Ppareumbo accepted the core without the slightest reluctance. With his characteristically agonizing slowness, he rolled the golden orb around in his claws, inspected it, and popped it straight into his mouth. Back before we had Inedia Pills, he had treated beast cores as his daily bread, so it shouldn't cause any major issues.

Drift—

Or so I hoped. Was the energy within ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the core too volatile even for Ppareumbo to suppress? The second his feet lifted off the dirt and he began to float upward, I frantically clamped down on his shoulders. But Ppareumbo merely waved a languid claw as if telling me to take my hands off, showing zero distress.

Float— drift—

Suspended in midair, Ppareumbo leisurely navigated through every corner of the campsite. Fortunately, he seemed to possess full steering control. While he enjoyed his stroll through the air, I sat down and shared a meal with the other animals. Oh, and I made sure to feed Ggobongi his portion too—a privilege Ppareumbo had granted his tacit approval for.

"Kyuu! Kyu-kyu!"

Wonmo, who had been too busy stuffing his face to notice earlier, suddenly began bouncing frantically on his paws the moment he spotted Ppareumbo floating overhead. He chirped and flailed, practically begging for a chance to fly as well. He was ridiculously adorable whenever he acted like that. But if Wonmo tried climbing onto Ppareumbo's back, the sloth's levitation would collapse in an instant. Even as an infant, an Owlbear was an Owlbear—the difference in body mass was simply too vast.

"Keeeng! King!"

"Kheng!"

Instead, I offered the ride to the equally adorable Baby Raccoon. The instant the little guy was set atop Ppareumbo's floating belly, it broke into a radiant, sunny grin. Down below, Father Raccoon watched with an amused smirk, while Mother Raccoon looked on with nervous maternal fretting.

"Kyuu! Kyu!"

Wonmo, on the other hand, was so thoroughly miffed at being excluded that he sulked off into the shadowed corner of the cave. There is truly nothing cuter on this earth than a round, pudgy ball of fur wedged into a corner to pout. Approaching Wonmo, whose entire body practically vibrated with the message I'm mad at you, I crouched down to coax him.

"Wonmo-ya. Don't be mad. Once I figure out how to fly later, I'll give you a ride myself, alright?"

"Kyuu..."

Through some determined sweet-talking, I barely managed to placate the cub. Before long, Ppareumbo's paws gently settled back onto solid ground.

"Can you fly whenever you want now?"

"..."

When I asked, Ppareumbo shook his head slowly from side to side. Evidently, there was a strict duration limit. If the flight had been permanent, I could have flown right out of this godforsaken forest long ago.

Still... eating one myself is out of the question, right?

I hadn't even mastered the icy qi coursing through me yet; overreaching would only bring disaster. Besides, whether my human body could properly absorb that essence remained dubious. Fast Tree Sloth possessed instincts far sharper than mine, which was why he knew it was safe before swallowing it. But since I had no guarantee of how my constitution would react, I had to postpone the idea for another day.

Regardless, ambergris grants the power of flight... that's the bottom line, isn't it?

Unknown side effects were still a concern. I briefly toyed with the thought of testing it on Ggobongi, but since he couldn't use mana anyway, it likely wouldn't reveal much. For now, I had ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠to trust Ppareumbo's discerning palate.

Just as the gallery thread was heating up, Praise the Sun's comment caught my attention. For Praise the Sun to personally author a post meant something truly wild had transpired. Intrigued, I immediately navigated to the main board to look for his thread. Having only just been submitted, it barely had any upvotes yet.

Simply burning the substance as incense was enough to wipe out gravity across an entire enclosed space. Seeing his video confirmed that direct inhalation yielded the supernatural effect as well. Not that it offered me any immediate survival utility, of course; my intent was to ingest it directly when the proper time arrived.

I don't think I had ever seen Praise the Sun reply to so many comments in a single sitting. The sheer excitement practically bled through his words, leaving me with a strange sense of vicarious satisfaction.

Ahem. Moving on.

One ought to respect personal tastes, after all. Though calling it a mere "taste" was generous—it was downright degenerate behavior... but frankly, I could understand the appeal. Partaking in that while floating weightless in midair? That was an achievement(?) no mortal man could claim to have unlocked. Even on Earth, humanity had only dreamed of such zero-gravity escapades after constructing orbital space stations, so what hope did a fantasy realm stand?

Wait a second. You can float just by burning the incense?

The sudden realization struck like a thunderbolt, and I scanned the interior of the cavern. Barring the stone chimney and the main cave entrance, there were virtually no gaps for air to escape. If I sealed both openings and lit the incense burner inside, couldn't I enjoy the exact same zero-gravity joyride Praise the Sun had?

...I have to do this right now.

Naturally, when it came to spectacularly stupid ideas, my impulse control was completely nonexistent.

Shortly thereafter, I traded with Praise the Sun to acquire instructions on proper incense burning alongside the necessary brass burners and tools.

"How is it, Wonmo? Awesome, right?!"

"Kyuuuu! Kyuu!"

Thanks to that, we were treated to a deliriously thrilling zero-gravity experience within the sealed cave.

"Uwooooorgh! Woooorgggh!"

Though judging by the flailing and terrified shrieking, Ggobongi didn't seem to be enjoying the zero-gravity flight quite as much.