I closed my eyes and sighed in relief, facing forward so she wouldn’t see my expression. I couldn’t imagine how lonely traveling alone would be. I wasn’t even considering the fact that I had obvious feelings for the elf with that.

I was still munching on crocolisk meat. I had managed to get to the last one, making sure not to eat each one in its entirety as it didn’t seem to be a necessity, if the snake was of any indication.

“How much can you eat?” Cellestra asked, clearly impressed that I’d managed to keep going.

“You see that giant thing behind you?” I said, referring to my spider abdomen. “Take a wild guess how much fits in that.”

Cellestra turned around and observed the swirling colors inside my rear. “Quite a bit, I assume. I’d be curious to see how long you can go without eating after this. I don’t have to feed my tarantula more than once or twice a week.”

“No idea. I do think I won’t stop eating, though. There’s this skill that I plan to utilize.”

“Fair enough.”

I finished the last crocolisk and tossed its body back into the water. I did the same with the others and shook my head in disappointment.

“Nothing?” Cellestra asked.

“Nothing,” I confirmed.

“Unfortunate. How far did you plan to go in the dungeon?” The elf then asked.

“I’m not quite sure. I don’t know if that floor boss will have been replaced. That’s one of the things I wanted to ask, but I doubt you know about it.”

“From what little I know about dungeons, I do believe floor bosses are supposed to spawn again after a while.”

“Okay. That would be interesting. It wasn’t a hard enemy to kill, but I don’t quite know if I’m looking forward to eating slime.”

I chuckled. “I guess a sword would be useful for fighting that thing.”

“Will I be okay on here?” Cellestra asked.

“I think you’ll be fine. Those crocolisks are more agile than that sand-covered slime. I hope you don’t mind?”

“Oh no, I’m fine here. I doubt stepping off will make this easier for you.”

“Yeah,” I sighed. “You’re right. Back there is as safe as it gets. I will have to fight that slime in melee, though, so you better hold on tight.”

“Gotcha.”

With all nearby threats neutralized, I skittered towards the room with the sandpit, keeping my eyes wide open for anything to appear from the water. When I was almost at the end of the path, and about to leave the swamp behind me, I was startled when something jumped out of the water. Without even thinking twice, I’d created an earthen wall in the blink of an eye in the general direction of where the movement came from.

I was relieved to see it was nothing more than a giant toad. The moment it extended its tongue to strike me, I summoned threads to intercept it. I then bound its tongue to the ground as I watched the confusion in this creature’s eyes. It didn’t get to experience that feeling for long as I channeled my lightning arc. With nowhere to move to as it was restrained, the toad didn’t live for much longer.

“Uhhhhh,” Cellestra let out.

I sighed. “I guess we’ll find out…”

“Are you sure about this?” She asked as I skittered close to the giant amphibian.

“Nope. Not at all.”

I waited a few moments to see if anything else would appear, then dragged the body away from the swamp towards the arch that led to the next room. There, I started tearing away the creature’s slimy skin. To my surprise, there was pink flesh underneath it, not too different looking from raw chicken.

“That looks better than I expected,” Cellestra said as she leaned to the side to watch what I was doing.

“My thoughts exactly. However, I doubt it will taste like chicken. I’m also slightly worried about it being poisonous, but I do have a spell to remove toxins, and I have decent resistance to it as well.”

“Snakes are easier in that regard,” Cellestra added, “With their venom being stored in a specific place.”

I nodded. “Though, I don’t know about that last snake. It could have been poisonous as well. I mean, it was called a noxious cobra.”

“And this toad?”

“Also noxious.”

“Hum. It’s quite useful to know exactly what you killed,” Cellestra noted. “Simply judging from the names, it can already give you important information.”

“You’re right. It is useful.”

I started eating the toad’s meat and noted that it wasn’t all that bad. If I had to compare it to anything, it was quite similar to the taste of chicken. The flavor was light, with some hints of fish in it as well. It definitely wasn’t the worst thing I’d eaten.

“And?” Cellestra asked curiously.

“Being able to talk and eat at the same time is certainly interesting,” I said as I turned my head to Cellestra.

“That’s not what I’m talking about you silly!” She said before smiling.

Her reaction was a pleasure to see. I’d already known this would be her reaction, yet I reveled in it anyway.

“It’s only fair I pay you back for the jokes you’ve made about me,” I continued, keeping up the light air that surrounded us at the moment.

“I guess I deserve that. No, but really, how does it taste?”

I crossed my arms again while I was eating. “Somewhat of a mix between chicken and fish. It’s quite an odd flavor but not bad at all.”

I took a few more bites when a message showed up before me. I instantly turned my head to see what it said.

I scratched my head at the message. What the hell was this?

“Your blessing showed you something?” Cellestra said.

“It did, and I’m trying to figure out what to make of it. Something about this is off. It says something about an enhancement I can get, and then it notes it unlocks a skill, but what’s odd is that it also lists that said skill has a level, in this case, one.”

“Is it any good?”

I shrugged. “I have no idea. Elysa, what does this enhancement do?”

“I don’t know whether to laugh, cry, or be angry,” I said with a sigh.

“That bad?” Cellestra asked.

“I’m sure you’re going to laugh if I tell you.”

“Now I’m even more curious.”

I covered my eyes and forehead with my palm before taking a deep breath to relay to Cellestra what had just shown up before me.

“Apparently,” I started, emphasizing the word as best I could, “I can grow an amphibian tongue in my spider mouth, which I can then use to literally slap enemies, much like that toad.”

Cellestra tried to suppress a giggle before bursting out in full-blown laughter. “By the goddess, this blessing of yours is far more hilarious than I could have expected. Honestly, what was she thinking?”

Her laughter continued for a good twenty seconds before she was able to contain herself. I was shaking my head with my eyes closed the entire time.

“I didn’t know what to expect, but this just goes beyond everything I could have thought of,” I said, my head still shaking.

“At least I have a much better idea of how it works now. From here, I assume I can judge the value of my targets before I start eating them. However, I see there being a possibility that these toads can also give me another skill. It would be nice to be able to know that beforehand, but I guess this will have to do.”

“Hope you’re hungry,” Cellestra said, amused by recent events.

“Not so much anymore, no,” I said as I moved the toad’s corpse out of my way with my legs.

“I’m sorry, Kealyna, I was just joking,” She said apologetically, in a low voice.

“No offense taken. Don’t worry. I’m just a bit… disappointed with this outcome. I was hoping for something more useful.”

“You won’t take the skill?” She asked.

“It’s useless. Why would I take it?”

“Dunno,” Cellestra said. “I thought you said something about lacking a tongue.”

“I mean, I don’t seem to need it when my stomach works like this. A tongue will make no difference.”

“Fair enough, Shall we continue? I’m curious about this supposed floor boss.”

I looked at the entrance to the room before me. “Yeah, let’s do that.”