Chapter 38 - Fortune
It appears that if there was a god, he is a fair dude.
Just like these Lemmings, they can run so fast despite their low battle power but they were not fully equipped in the brain department.
Viktor was still hanging on the tree branch, and he watched as dozens and dozens of mutated lemmings jumped off the cliff, committing mass suicide.
It was fortunate for Viktor to watch that particular documentary about lemmings which are related to a metaphor for human behavior.
Lemming has become a term for someone who would blindly follow the crowd, even towards a clear catastrophe.
At first, he thought of it as a myth, but here he was, the myth was unfolded right in front of his eyes. The lemmings jump off the cliff like a group of kids who want to show off their flying powers, and everyone followed through to the same end - death.
Viktor could see the golden lemming in his pocket hang onto his clothes tightly with its claw while trembling in small motions of fear not wanting to end of the same fate of the others
"You can understand me, right?" asked Viktor talking to the golden creature
Fear crossed the golden lemming's eyes for a moment, before it nodded, this time with sincere obedience.
"You better not call more of your fans, this is just sad, do you agree?",
The tiny creature now nodded its head.
"Also don't try to run, as I am faster than you... So you better behave and accept your fate"
Once again, the creature nodded.
"Alright, then. Let's get down."
Viktor patted his pocket, ensuring the golden rat was safely tucked in and used both hands to climb down the tree. When he finally reached the ground, he finally saw the masses of furry corpses in such gruesome conditions.
The golden lemming jump out of his pocket stood in silence among the corpses.
"I really hated to see this too, bro. Don't force my hand next time."
However, Viktor's eyes were suddenly distracted by the shiny stones glimmering within dozens of the corpses.
"Ooo… is that…!?"
<Yes... spirit stones!> said the Djinn who sounded as excited he was
Viktor quickly picked up a handful of the stones like a hungry scavenger in disbelief of how much fortune he saw. This quickly made his previous statement completely change.
He glanced at the golden lemmings who stood among the corpse with it's beady eyes, gave it a condescending smile, and said.
"Are you angry? Well, maybe you should! What about calling more for revenge, come on… you really should!"
The purpose was none other than to make more lemmings come and Viktor could farm more spirit stones.
However, the golden lemming just stood there, too terrified to even pay any heed to Viktor's taunting attempts. Seeing that his attempts had failed, Viktor decided to bend down and pick up all the spirit stones like a kid looking for candies on easter.
"Hehehe…" Viktor laughed like a maniac as he picked up more and more stones. Within minutes, he had obtained hundreds of them.
Not all mutated lemmings gave out spirit stones, but from at least 4 or 5 hundred lemming corpses, Viktor managed to extract 142 spirit stones.
"Amazing…" He stared at all the stones he collected before he placed them in his storage ring for safekeeping.
After ensuring there were no more spirit stones left, Viktor stared at the terrified lemming and thought about killing the poor creature. It was after all a tier 3 creature, and killing it must have added some benefits.
He unsheathed his knife and got himself ready, even to the point of willing to use [All Might] to add the extra strength he needed to kill the creature.
However, as he stared at it, Viktor saw the lemming show off its begging eyes to him.
He could have sworn that the Lemming's tiny eyes were just enlarged twice their size in hopes that Viktor would grant it mercy.
Viktor stared at it for a while before he let out a long sigh. To be honest, it would be a lie for him to say that he didn't feel sorry for the creature. Besides, he was in a really good mood right now.
Maybe it was not a bad idea to give the lemming some more time to live, and if the creature decided to call for more of its friends, it would be a rewarding situation for Viktor. There was nothing to lose by letting the creature live.
"Alright, for now, you are my fortune animal and you shall treat me as your master, got it?"
With that problem settled, Viktor walked back towards the hut. Along the way, he saw the pile of bones the mutated bear had become, but this time, he saw something shine in what remained of its ribs. It was another spirit stone.
Unlike the ones before, this spirit stone was a light yellow color.
"What's this one Djinn?"
<That is the higher form of the spirit stones, it has 100 times more energy than the white ones>
"Haha, this is amazing!" Viktor placed the stone into his storage for safekeeping before he continued his journey.
When Viktor returned to the hut, he saw none of them were hurt, and he let out a sigh of relief. From their expressions, it was clear that they were worried about him.
Viktor glared at the golden lemming in a silent reminder for it to not cause any trouble. However, the previously depressed rat ignored him. Instead, at the sight of Eva, the creature jumped out of his pocket, ran towards the girl, and jumped onto her waiting hands as if looking for comfort.
Surprisingly the golden lemming's mood instantly changed as Eva stroked it's hair.
"You poor thing... Did anything bad happen to you?" said Eva
Eva stared at him and asked. "Can we keep him now!?"
"That depends. If he behaves, then sure."
The golden rat acted like an obedient, abandoned cat right after Viktor spoke. The cutesy facade it offered only made Eva even more attached to it.
"Aaa, he's so adorable… We should name it!"
Right at that moment, Viktor wondered if he made a mistake by taking a tier 3 monster into his hut.
Either way, he has no time to worry too much about the rat right now.. With so many threats looming around them, he had to quickly decide what to do with the hundreds of spirit stones he found.