Yuuta sat hunched on a smooth, sun-warmed slab of stone, his green back slouched and shoulders rising with every heavy breath. The bloodied rock lay at the ground, slick with gore, drying under the canyon heat. Red splotches stained his still-regenerating hands and flecks of pig brain clung to his rough elbows. He was a mess—dust-covered, blood-splattered, and absolutely exhausted—but a wide, crooked grin stretched across his face.
If frogs could smile, Yuuta was grinning like a madman.
Before he could relish the peace for too long, a soft, almost musical hum cut through the silence. From the ruined, caved-in head of the pigman came a gentle glow. A single blue orb floated upward, twinkling like a sapphire firefly. Several golden coins clinked as they tumbled out from the corpse's chest cavity, glittering among the dust and dirt.
The XP orb and coins hovered momentarily—then zipped toward him with a suddenness that made him flinch.
They struck his body with a light impact and vanished instantly. The moment they disappeared, a familiar system chime echoed in his mind:
[DING!]
[Congratulations: You have leveled up!]
[New Level: 4]
[+50 Gold Coins]
Yuuta blinked, and then everything changed.
The canyon around him faded into a muted gray, the wind stilled, and even the dust hung motionless in the air like it had been frozen mid-drift. The ground beneath him felt the same, but everything else… it was like time had stopped.
Yuuta cracked his knuckles and let out a long sigh, his voice echoing strangely in the stillness.
"Finally… Level 4. Took me long enough."
He stretched out his arms like a tired old man and rolled his stiff neck. Though his body was still aching from the earlier carnage, the glow of advancement stirred something in his gut. He wasn't just surviving anymore—he was getting stronger.
"Alright, let's see what kinda goodies the system's offering this time."
As if on cue, three small vortexes spiraled open in the air in front of him. They were only the size of dinner plates, but each crackled with faint energy. From each portal, a rectangular card slowly emerged, rotating in the air like some divine prize wheel.
The cards clicked into place before him. The gray void seemed to brighten slightly, focusing all attention on the hovering trio.
"No time for chit-chat," Yuuta muttered, his voice tinged with anticipation. "Let's see what we've got."
He turned his attention to the card on the left.
It was a clean design—uncomplicated, but clear. At the top was an image of a silvery magnet, the classic horseshoe shape. Around it, dozens of tiny golden coins and small glowing XP balls spiraled inward, pulled by invisible force. Below the image was the text, glowing faintly.
[Magnet]
_________________________________________
[Picks up XP Orbs and Gold Coins at currently 5 meters.]
[Passive Skill]
[Current Upgrades: +5 meters]
[Star Rank: ★----]
_________________________________________
Yuuta arched a dusty green brow. "Huh… so that's what's been doing all the heavy lifting."
He nodded slowly, remembering all the times XP orbs and coins had zipped into him without needing to crawl through rubble or reach into a pig's half-exploded chest.
"I didn't even think about this thing. Damn helpful though."
He gave the card a mock salute. "Thanks for keeping me from digging ten more craters into my ass."
But practicality aside, Yuuta didn't linger on it. The card had its uses, sure. Especially when scouring battlefield remains or tight cliffs. Yet what he wanted now wasn't convenience.
It was power.
His brow lowered, and his expression hardened as he turned to the middle card.
"No offense, Magnet, but I need something with teeth," he muttered. "Something to torch those bastard pigs next time they try to throw a boulder party."
The cards glowed faintly, their magic pulsing as if waiting to be chosen.
Yuuta scratched his chin with his still-dirty fingers, leaving a small streak of blood and dirt down his jawline. Despite his casual demeanor, there was a sharpness in his gaze. He was thinking now—strategizing. He'd survived being chased, hunted, buried, burned, and bludgeoned. He was still alive. That meant something.
But being alive wasn't enough. He wanted revenge. He wanted to see the pigmen that tried to bury him scream the same way their buried comrade had.
He stepped closer to the middle card.
His webbed toes scraped against the grayish void beneath him, each footstep echoing unnaturally. The silence of this frozen space made even the smallest sound seem significant.
"I'm gonna need firepower," Yuuta said aloud, his voice low and resolute. "Something nasty. Something they'll remember me by before they croak."
He glanced once more at the [Magnet] card floating on the left, offering its utility with passive loyalty. He appreciated it—truly. But now wasn't the time to be grateful.
It was time to escalate.
The next card shimmered, as if responding to his determination.
Yuuta inhaled slowly, letting the silence soak in. Then, with a slow exhale, he muttered, "Alright, middle card. Show me what you've got."
As the card steadied itself, the image on its front revealed itself—a twisting, swirling cyclone etched in deep blues and grays, framed by streaks of wind-carved debris.
A tornado.
Yuuta's throat clicked. His bulbous eyes widened, and his wide frog mouth began to twitch upward into what could only be described as a disturbing, if not slightly unhinged, smile.
"Oh fuck yes," he croaked softly, eyes glinting with greed and glee.
The card's glowing text flickered to life:
[Tornado]
_________________________________________
[Currently exudes a wind speed of 136 kph]
[Current Tornado Size: 100 meters]
[No Available Upgrades:]
[Skill Duration: 1 minute]
[Cooldown: 5 minutes]
[Star Rank: -----]
_________________________________________
Yuuta's eyes bulged. Literally. His jaw dropped so wide his throat pouch puffed up in disbelief. "One hundred... meters?"
He took a staggered breath, chest rising and falling rapidly as if he had just run ten laps around the canyon. His hands fidgeted, his fingers twitching in manic delight. His webbed toes flexed, scraping over the dusty stone beneath him as if trying to keep himself grounded. He looked like a frog who just got proposed to, flailing silently with uncontainable glee.
"This... this is fucking nuts," he whispered.
He paced in a small, jittery circle in front of the floating card, panting like he was overheating. Though still caked in layers of dirt and dried blood, the spark of vitality in his eyes made him seem almost reborn.
He shook his head in awe. "A hundred meters... with wind speeds of 136 kilometers an hour. And that's just the starting version?"
Yuuta, former disaster-documentary junkie, knew better than most what kind of destruction a tornado could bring. Sure, he was mostly in it for the slow-mo cows getting flung into barns and people diving into bathtubs to avoid getting eaten by sky monsters, but he knew the stats. He knew the levels.
And 136 kph? That was right around the F1 range. Mild... by tornado standards. But in the middle of a battlefield? That was a fucking nightmare in motion. Now imagine that shit hitting F2 or F3 speeds. Add magical upgrades, throw in his already nasty spell arsenal, and you had a full-on natural disaster with a frog at the center.
Yuuta exhaled slowly, calming the excited shivers that ran down his spine. "Pigs tried to bury me alive. Tried to crush me like a damn bug. Well... they're about to learn what a real storm looks like."
He cast one last look at the [Tornado] card, his expression softening into a weirdly fond smile.
Then, just as he was about to reach out—
The final card shimmered.
Yuuta blinked and turned toward it. The rightmost card had been quiet this whole time. Now, it presented its image: a dark cloud crackling with a thick bolt of lightning.
He groaned.
"Oh come on, not this shit again."
This was the third time he'd seen this card. Lightning Struck. The flashy but familiar spell. He didn't even need to read the description. He already knew what it did—and more importantly, he knew what it didn't do.
"Alright, alright. I get it. You like shocking random people. But I've got new priorities now."
He shot the lightning card a half-hearted salute, then turned back to the middle.
"Come to papa."
He reached out. The [Tornado] card hovered slightly closer, vibrating with kinetic energy. Then, with a pulse of light, the two remaining cards twisted and vanished into their portals with a whoosh, leaving only the tornado.
The card spun once, twice, then darted forward and slammed gently against Yuuta's forehead.
"Oof—!"
With a silent flash, the card dissolved into a flurry of sparkles, sprinkling over Yuuta's head and shoulders like magical confetti. The frozen world around him quivered, then slowly regained color. A breeze picked up. The dust resumed its descent.
Time resumed.
Yuuta stood tall, eyes closed, frog chin raised, arms wide. He was basking in the glory, soaking up the imaginary applause of an invisible audience. For a brief moment, he looked like a cinematic hero, leveling up before the final battle.
Then he exhaled.
A massive puff of dust shot out of his mouth.
He coughed violently, nearly doubling over. "Shit—! Forgot where I was."
Bent forward, hacking and wheezing, Yuuta swatted the dust away from his face with both hands. He cursed himself, voice muffled between coughs. His dramatic moment utterly ruined.
"Stupid fucking dusty canyon," he growled, spitting to the side.
He straightened again, rubbing his chest with a grimace. Still, despite the embarrassing follow-up, he was smiling inside. Tornado. A proper, devastating spell. A step closer to becoming a walking, croaking natural disaster.
His gaze lifted to the sky, now its normal color. The air was thick with dust, but it didn't matter. His path forward had just become a lot more destructive.