“Haa, haa…”
In the silent forest, a man was being chased by a starving monster.
Kyarrk—
At a glance, it looked like a giant ball, closing the distance at a high speed as it rolled along.
Then, the root of a tree heartlessly snagged the ankle of the man who was fleeing with all his might.
“Aagh!”
Falling with a single scream, he scrambled to look around, desperate to find anything that might help him survive.
“A pebble…!”
Clinging to straws, he reached out toward a pure white pebble embedded in the ground.
Kyarrrk—!
He looked back to find the Armadeer, which had now straightened its body, closing in.
“Die!!”
The moment the creature entered his range, he threw the stone with all his strength.
Thwack—!
Thanks to the short distance, the pebble scored a direct hit. The man scrambled right back up to his feet and ran with the last dregs of his strength.
That was why he couldn’t have known.
Roll—
He had no idea what kind of waves this single act of his would set off in the future.
* * *
It was my thirty-six thousand, five hundred and seventeenth day since opening my eyes in this world.
Today, as always, I was in the middle of training my ‘butt-wiggling.’
There hasn’t been any progress at all, but a person—well, a thing—tends to become lethargic without a goal.
‘Oh. A human.’
Right then, a person who had been sprinting frantically while being chased by something tripped and fell right in front of me.
‘Ouch, that’s gotta hurt. Hey, you okay?’
And I talked to myself like I always do.
I knew he couldn’t hear me anyway, but consider it a habit.
“A pebble…!”
For a second, my heart skipped a beat.
I actually thought he could hear me.
But such fairytale-like things didn’t happen.
‘Huh? What the. Why in this direction….’
Until this point, I thought things would just pass by without incident.
“Die!!”
That is, until he picked me up and threw me.
‘I-I’m flying!! I’m spinninnng!!’
At that moment, the world I had been fixed in for a hundred years spun around.
It felt exactly like when I rode the Gyro Swing at Lotte World.
Thwack—!
Just as I was about to really enjoy the ride, a dull thud echoed, and my body crashed down onto the ground.
‘Ugh, I feel sick…. What on earth just happened?’
I looked around at the baffling situation.
The guy who threw me was long gone, and in front of me, some monster was collapsed with its eyes rolled back.
‘What’s this, don’t tell me it’s dead?’
Given that its forehead is caved in and it’s not moving, it really looks dead.
‘Stone head for the win.’
Its carapace looked pretty hard; it was a huge relief I didn’t hit that part.
No matter if I’m a pebble, I’d probably break if I hit something harder than me.
‘If I break, I might die.’
It was when I was feeling a strange sense of victory and vertigo at the same time.
Ting—!
‘Huh?’
Has it been almost 90 years? Since the last time I saw a notification window.
I think the first and last time I saw it was when I earned the ‘Faithful Stone’ title on my 10th year of stone life.
——————
[Faithful Stone]
One who has endured without moving from a single spot for a very long time.
You possess a mental fortitude as strong as a stone that remains unshaken by most events.
——————
Isn’t giving a title like this to someone born as a stone just mocking them?
Well, thanks to the title’s effect, I was able to endure without going insane, though.
Anyway, that’s not what’s important right now.
[Would you like to activate Blessing of Predation (lv. 1)?]
‘….’
I was so shocked that I instinctively lost my words.
It felt as if time, which had been frozen for the past hundred years, was moving again.
‘Predation’ was something that had been there ever since I first opened my status window.
The explanation was poor for something called a ‘Blessing’ and I couldn’t even use it, so I had forgotten about it, but to think it would appear like this.
‘Of course I’m activating it!’
It was the moment I used something from my status window for the very first time in my stone life.
Perhaps because I was unknowingly nervous, my body trembled.
Then, at the same time I felt a warm energy being sucked into my body, notification windows appeared one after another.
[You have devoured the Magic Stone of an Armadear (Lv. 5). Absorbing its magical power.]
[Level Up! You have obtained 2 Skill Points.]
[There are skills available for acquisition.]
‘W-what is all this?’
Magic power? Level up? Skill Points and acquiring skills?
‘Am I dreaming right now?’
No, that’s impossible.
I haven’t slept once since becoming a pebble.
With the Waiting Stone title and all, there’s no way I’ve finally gone crazy and started seeing hallucinations.
If so, this is….
‘An opportunity!!’
An opportunity to escape this dirt-floor stone-life that was worse than my previous “dirt-spoon” life!
As the first ray of hope dawned on me, dopamine—no, stone-pamine—rushed through me, and my head felt clear.
‘God, please! If you just let me move, I’ll live a good life, please…!!’
Ding—
——————
[Acquirable Skills]
- Roll – 1P
- Rounding – 1P
- Hardened Shell – 2P
——————
‘Kyaaaaaah!!’
I screamed internally like a lunatic.
There was no way I could contain my excitement.
Honestly, how many people in this situation could maintain their cool and stay rational?
‘Hoo… first of all, let’s calm down.’
If the window disappears and it gets canceled, that would be a major disaster.
‘Do I have 2 skill points right now?’
——————
Owned Skill Points: 2P
——————
‘Right.’
Since I didn’t have skill points to begin with, it seems I get 2 points whenever I level up.
‘Then the skill descriptions….’
——————
[Roll (lv. 1)]
Allows you to roll your body freely.
——————
[Rounding (lv. 1)]
Allows you to make your body round.
——————
[Hard Shell (lv. 1)]
Your outer shell becomes harder.
——————
‘Ah. Finally….’
An overwhelming emotion welled up from deep within my heart.
How many decades has it been since I felt moved like this?
If I had tear ducts, I would have made a puddle in seconds.
‘Acquire Roll.’
After taking a deep breath, I made my choice without hesitation.
Even if the other two were incredibly good skills, I would have chosen Roll.
[Acquiring the skill ‘Roll’.]
‘…Did it work?’
It felt a bit underwhelming.
Looking at how the points decreased by one, it seemed like it worked, though.
‘How do I use it?’
It didn’t look like it was going to give me a separate tutorial on how to use it.
Well, there’s no way this system would be that kind.
‘Let’s just try it.’
I took a mental breath before this historical moment.
‘Why am I so nervous over this?’
Then, with the feeling of a toddler taking their first step, I moved my body.
Roll—
‘It-it worked!’
I was worried about what to do if it didn’t work like I thought, but it was a natural sensation, as if I had been rolling around all along.
It felt like I had regained limbs I once lost.
‘To be able to move my body of my own will! To be able to move in WASD directions!’
I suppose you really only realize the true value of something after you lose it.
Though it was a feeling I never wanted to experience again.
‘But can I just keep rolling without any other conditions?’
I wondered if it consumed mana since there was magic power in the status window, but no matter how many times I rolled, I didn’t feel anything special.
‘This is totally a brokenly generous skill….’
Wait a minute.
That’s not it! This should be the bare minimum to begin with!
Did I get gaslit after spending 100 years as a pebble or something?
‘Thinking about it, it’s unfair! Why do I have to use a skill just to move!’
No matter how malicious a game is, it doesn’t block basic movement from the start!
‘Phew. I almost ended up feeling grateful.’
This is just something I got because I was lucky.
I will never forget the atrocity of turning a perfectly fine person into a pebble.
‘I should just save the remaining 1 point.’
The only thing I can get is Rounding, but that’s a skill I wouldn’t take even if it were free.
‘My body is already round.’
As soon as I thought I didn’t need the available skills window anymore, it disappeared on its own.
I immediately opened my status window.
——————
[Pebble Lv. 2]
Magic Power: E+
Durability: D
Blessing: [Predation (lv. 1)]
Skill: [Roll (lv. 1)]
Owned Skill Points: 1P
Title: [Faithful Stone]
——————
‘This is it. This is what I’m talking about!’
A status window is meant to be looked at for the fun of seeing it change like this!
‘From now on, my second life is a solid concrete highway!’
Surely that’s better than a flower path that would get crushed if I rolled on it, right?
* * *
Roll, roll—
‘Hehehe.’
I rolled around for a long time like a puppy out for a walk on a snowy day.
Perhaps because skill correction was being applied, I fortunately wasn’t as dizzy as when I was thrown.
Roll, roll, roll—
‘Hehehehe….’
Augh, I keep laughing like a crazy person.
Who cares. There’s no one around to see anyway.
‘By the way, it feels like I’ve been moving for over an hour, yet I’m not tired at all.’
Maybe because I’m a pebble, there’s no shortness of breath or muscle strain.
I don’t need to eat or sleep, so I could move 24 hours a day if I set my mind to it.
‘This is the true Infinity Stone.’
Now, let’s stop rolling aimlessly and think about what to do next.
‘First of all….’
——————
<!> Find the missing fragments of ???.
– ??? (Not acquired)
– ??? (Not acquired)
– ??? (Not acquired)
– ??? (Not acquired)
——————
This had been there ever since I first came to my senses in this world.
It’s full of question marks so I don’t know what it is, but it felt like a main quest.
I wonder if it’ll grant a wish or something if I collect them all like Dragon Balls.
‘The problem is how to find them, though.’
With no clues, no explanation, and not even a proper name, there’s virtually nothing I can do right now.
Since there’s no time limit, I’ll set it aside for now and do what I can do.
‘Let’s think.’
It wasn’t intentional, but anyway, I killed a monster with my body.
Then, I was able to predate the magic stone, and as I acquired demonic essence, I leveled up.
‘In other words, magic power seems to be the same concept as EXP.’
And with the skill points I gained from leveling up, I could absorb the skills the killed monster possessed.
Right now, this was more important than anything else.
‘I really thought I was going to live as a pebble and then weather away into dust.’
It was dizzying just thinking about it again.
If that person hadn’t passed by earlier, if he hadn’t found me and thrown me, and if the monster hadn’t died.
I would still be waiting for the day I died, unable to do anything.
‘I have to remember my benefactor’s face!’
If we ever meet again, I will definitely repay the favor.
Of course, that’s assuming the benefactor safely made it out of the forest.
‘Please be safe.’
I lightly offered a prayer for his soul—no, not that kind of prayer, but a prayer for his life’s fortune toward the direction he had left.
‘Anyway.’
So if I hunt monsters, I can get skills and raise my stats.
‘But can I catch anything with just the Roll skill….’
It felt like I could at least crush an ant passing by to death, though.
Standing still and worrying wasn’t going to give me an answer.
Let’s move for now. There might be a monster similar to an ant.
‘As a determined Korean, I will definitely find a way!’
Having set a goal, I rolled my body to find prey without delay.
‘Isn’t there any small and insignificant monster~?’
I scoured the surroundings, my eyes fixed on the ground.
‘An ant is an ant, but why is it the size of a human foot?’
‘That caterpillar looks doable… wait, no. Is it the tip of an iceberg?!’
I wandered the forest for a long while, but there were only burly and oversized monsters.
After the sun went down, I saw nothing but things that looked like they’d turn me into dust if I even tried.
‘Should I wait until morning?’
No way!
I’m sick and tired of staying still.
I’ll find something smaller and weaker than me no matter what!
It was while I was rolling my body even more diligently with that burning determination.
Swish—
‘What’s that?’
A shadow fell in front of my vision.
Perhaps because the moonlight was bright, it was clearly visible even though it was night.
As I turned my body, a deep blue snake was flicking its tongue with its head held high.
‘I don’t taste good, so just go your way.’
I checked its identity and tried to continue on my way.
Because I knew that anyway, monsters didn’t recognize me as prey whether I rolled or not.
Gape—
However, contrary to my expectations, the snake opened its mouth wide.
‘It doesn’t have fangs? That’s weird.’
Even then, I thought it was just yawning.
‘Seeing a snake yawn right in front of me, I guess I’ve lived a long ti—’
Chomp!
‘Huh? Wait a second……!’
Gulp—
‘Save the pebble!’
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