Between the mountains, there was a small stream.
At this moment, on a stone by the stream, a pitch-black toad was staring blankly at two milky white stones in front of it.
"Half a year! A whole half year, do you know how I managed to get through it?!"
Mo Fan shouted in his heart, his toad eyes brimming with tears, filled with indescribable excitement.
He had been in this world for a full half year. From the beginning, like a tadpole looking for its mother, until now, he finally understood the use of the gold coin in his mind.
In front of Mo Fan, on the stone, lay a gold coin.
The coin was round with a square hole in the center, engraved with four complex characters that looked somewhat like runes, which Mo Fan did not recognize.
This gold coin had come with him to this world and was the golden finger he believed in.
However, in the past six months, besides discovering that the gold coin could be stored in his mind at will, he found no other remarkable features.
Naturally, Mo Fan was not resigned to this; he was unwilling to live his life as a toad.
Of course, he had thought about suicide, but being too timid, he ultimately decided that a bad life was better than no life at all.
In his view, even as a toad, he should be one that could eat swan meat, to make his life worthwhile.
Thus, in the past six months, besides constantly avoiding predators, he tinkered with his gold coin.
Now, he finally discovered its use!
It could actually replicate... stones?
But this stone was not an ordinary one, and it was the first time Mo Fan had seen it.
He found it in a nearby karst cave. It looked like jade, completely milky white, and emitted a faint glow at night. It felt cool to the touch, unlike any other stone.
Moreover, he vaguely felt a comfortable illusion when near this stone.
For this reason, Mo Fan decided to carry the stone in his mouth back to his cave for decoration.
But as soon as he returned to the stream, he suddenly felt the gold coin in his mind emit a faint glow, and then there seemed to be something else in his mouth. Spitting it out, he found another stone!
From one stone, it became two stones.
After examining the gold coin, Mo Fan willed it back into his mind and then put one of the stones in his mouth.
He planned to conduct another experiment to see if it was as he thought.
Thus, he held the milky white stone in his mouth, quietly waiting while calculating the time in his mind.
After about a quarter of an hour, the gold coin in his mind indeed emitted a faint golden glow again, and Mo Fan noticed something else in his mouth!
He quickly spat it out and found two stones again!
Looking at the three identical stones in front of him, Mo Fan felt inexplicably delighted. His eyes rolled, and his scarlet tongue shot out, catching a mosquito flying in front of him and swiftly retracting it into his mouth.
Since he could replicate stones, could he replicate other things too?
So, with a mosquito in his mouth, Mo Fan waited quietly.
As for whether he found mosquitoes disgusting, he no longer cared. If he did, he would have starved long ago.
There was no choice; being reincarnated as a toad meant he couldn't be picky like a human. This was Mo Fan's greatest realization in the past six months!
However, as time passed, a quarter of an hour, two quarters... Mo Fan eventually gave up and swallowed the mosquito in his mouth, considering it a small snack.
"It seems I can't replicate mosquitoes... What about other things?"
Mo Fan thought to himself and conducted several more experiments with grass, leaves, fish, shrimp, and even ordinary stones.
The results were disheartening; the experiments confirmed that only the special milky white stones could be replicated.
"Could this be some kind of special stone?"
Mo Fan pondered, but without a clue, he reluctantly put all three stones in his mouth and jumped into the stream, heading towards his cave.
His cave was by the stream, hidden among a pile of weeds, allowing him to avoid some fierce predators.
Mo Fan's cave was much larger than those of his kind. Besides his own large size, he had put effort into digging the cave, creating a three-room, one-hall setup!
The so-called three-room, one-hall was essentially four relatively large caves connected together.
This was his last stubbornness as a reincarnated person.
Bringing the three stones into his "bedroom," Mo Fan half-lay on the damp ground, resting his head on the milky white stones, taking a deep breath, and feeling the air seemed much sweeter.
"Since these stones have special effects, could there be other treasures deeper in the karst cave?"
As Mo Fan lay there, he thought like a human and finally decided to explore the depths of the karst cave at midnight.
***
Time quickly turned to midnight.
At this time, Mo Fan felt most comfortable, his mood much more pleasant than during the day, as the oppressive heat was gone.
"Ribbit, ribbit, ribbit..."
The croaking of his kind echoed outside the cave, indicating they were out foraging.
But Mo Fan disdained to associate with these ugly creatures, jumping out of the cave and heading towards the karst cave along the stream.
***
The karst cave wasn't far from Mo Fan's cave. After swimming in the stream for about half a day, Mo Fan arrived at the cave entrance.
Though called a karst cave, it was just a larger cavern, with an entrance about a yard wide, smooth and shiny, resembling a hole made by a large reptile. Inside, there were some relatively chaotic stalagmites.
For Mo Fan, who was only the size of a human head, this cavern could indeed be called a karst cave.
He peered inside the entrance, seeing darkness, which looked somewhat eerie and terrifying. This was why Mo Fan didn't dare to venture deeper last time.
"Hope I don't encounter any ghosts, or I'd be scared to death! Wait... I'm already a damn toad, what ghost would I fear?!"
Mo Fan muttered to himself, but the sound came out as "ribbit, ribbit, ribbit," echoing all around, so he simply shut his mouth, finding it somewhat noisy.
And it was... too unpleasant!
Summoning his courage, Mo Fan jumped deeper into the karst cave.
Along the way, Mo Fan saw several more of those milky white stones embedded in the cave walls, emitting a faint white glow.
This time, Mo Fan resisted the urge to pry them off and continued deeper.
The further he went, the more of those milky white stones he found.
After an unknown amount of time, when Mo Fan's eyes suddenly brightened, he was completely stunned.
In a huge cavern, densely packed with those milky white stones, the glow from these stones illuminated the entire cavern brightly!
However, what caught Mo Fan's attention most was a small tree amidst the chaotic rocks in the center of the cavern.
On the small tree hung three shiny fruits, and even from several yards away, Mo Fan could smell their faint fruity fragrance.
These fruits were definitely extraordinary!
Mo Fan's eyes flashed. He was so sure because beneath the small tree, two huge creatures were eyeing the fruits covetously.
A silver snake as thick as an adult's arm, about a yard long.
A red-backed centipede equally as thick, about half a yard long!
Perhaps sensing the arrival of a third party, both creatures turned their heads to look at Mo Fan, causing him to freeze in place.
Proofreader & Editor: Peter Pan