The Liberomancer [Isekai Progression LitRPG]

"Where is Stefan - ah, he ran off," Qi Nan said, sighing.

There were basically no Liberomancers of note in the village - after all, a Liberomancer would no more choose to live in a place like this than a human would choose to live with the swine in a pigsty, as her father had once said.

Why would any Liberomancer come here when one of the most essential tools for Liberomancers to advance was close contact with other Liberomancers, which could only really be done in large cities?

Suki Tang knew a few basic Rank One spells, and Qi Nan was technically a Rank Two Liberomancer herself - but she had mainly advanced to this stage with the help of her husband, and she had little in the way of offensive skills should things go south. [Fireball] was not a good option against the Elephant Frog as it had somewhat of a resistance to fire elemental spells.

Stefan's [Crimson Lance] by itself would make short work of the creature if need be, which is why Qi Nan wanted him to join them when they went to deal with the Elephant Frog, but he wasn't here right now.

Qi Nan put a hand on her sister's shoulder. "Relax, let me gather up some of the stronger men in the village and let's see if we can't chase it away."

There wasn't much danger in facing the frog - unless it quite literally squished you unintentionally; but there was the prospect that if they chased it away they might end up inadvertently chasing it toward the village.

That was the one thing they wanted to avoid, which is why Stefan would've been very useful to find before they went to confront the creature as he could've easily killed it were such a thing to happen.

"Don't worry - as village head I can't let you all go out and deal with something like this on your own," Suki Tang said, getting up to follow her.

Once they gathered a decent-sized group, they exited the village on another horse-drawn cart towards where the Elephant Frog was last spotted.

Given the frog's size, they didn't have to travel far before they found the frog's enormous footprints and disembarked to tail it on foot as the cart could not go too far off the trail.

"Ah, it's right there," one of the villagers, who was an experienced tracker, said. "And there is-" He stopped midway, speechless.

The others caught up to him, wondering what was wrong, when they saw what had shocked him so.

And yet, here they found him - fast asleep on the belly of the Elephant Frog, which was lying down on the ground, stomach up!

They had wondered where Stefan had gone and ultimately decided that this was too important a matter to wait on which is why they had proceeded without him; potentially hoping to at least get to know the extent of the situation before returning to the village where they would've updated him on it later.

Stefan could help them deal with the frog if need be afterwards - that was what they had planned. However, they had not found Stefan along the way here like Granny Qi had initially hoped, so she figured he had wandered off in some other direction.

This was the last place they'd imagined that they'd find him, however.

The Elephant Frog came in various colors, and this one was a soft brown that allowed it to easily blend in with its surroundings.

The villagers could all see that one of its eyes was open so they were not fooled even though the contour of its belly blended in with the surrounding area in the form of what would seem at first like a natural mound.

"How is… is he dead?" one of them wondered out loud, with the question being directed about Stefan, given that the Elephant Frog's irises had turned towards them when they approached close, they knew that it, at the very least, was alive. Stefan being dead might explain why he wasn't moving off its stomach.

No, they realized as many of them thought they saw his chest moving up and down, and then he even turned over in his sleep. So, he was definitely not dead.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

How was it that he was sleeping so peacefully atop such a behemoth? The frog could literally just turn over and squash him like an insect!

And yet… it hadn't. They stood there, in bewilderment, for nearly five minutes and the frog just continued to lie there, eyes open, yet not moving an inch.

And there was not a trace of panic on Stefan's face as he continued to serenely doze off!

It was like a man happening upon a napping bear in the woods, and then deciding that its belly would make for a good pillow!

"Is… why is he so relaxed on top of it? Doesn't he know he's courting death?"

"And why hasn't the frog done anything yet?"

"Perhaps… he is the kind of genius that is only born once in a thousand years and has somehow tamed the beast?"

"Maybe he has become one with himself and nature after years of intense meditation, allowing him to exist in harmony with all living creatures?"

"Perhaps this is a sign from the heavens that he is some sort of chosen hero favored by destiny?"

"All of you are wrong," Qi Nan said after she heard all of their rambling. She had known Stefan for the longest time out of all of them - and as such, she was sure that she had come to the correct conclusion based on her experience. "The truth is that he has no idea what he's doing!"

"Sister, I don't think that anyone could be that foolish as to have fallen asleep there without realizing there was a frog beneath them," Suki Tang said, a sentiment favored by the other villagers.

Qi Nan however, was still sure that her hypothesis was correct - Stefan had managed to somehow completely by accident find himself in this situation, and was not aware of the danger he was in. Which ironically, might have been what was keeping him safe as he wasn't making any sudden movements that might trigger the Elephant Frog into doing something drastic.

There was one thing that she couldn't figure out though.

Why wasn't the frog doing anything and just lying there as if being Stefan's mattress was its true calling in life? It looked like this had been going on for some time, and even if Stefan didn't do anything to provoke it, it would be normal for it to at least move slightly. It was extremely difficult for any living creature to remain perfect still - people tossed and turned even in their sleep, after all.

She had heard a story about twenty years back of a small infant who had been lost in the woods, who was later found in a bear's den. The bear, for whatever reason, had found the infant and brought her back to its den, not harming her whatsoever during that time. She was returned to her family completely unharmed. No one could figure out why the bear had done so, but the parents were just thankful to have their daughter back home safe and sound.

For each story like this though, there were at least ten stories of children being mauled by wild animals. Not to mention that it was suspected that some of the children who went 'missing' over the decades in many villages with no explanation had similarly become prey to wild animals.

The actions of wild animals were unpredictable in that way. This Elephant Frog was a magical beast, but it did not possess much higher intellect than that of a common animal. Why had it not simply rolled over and squashed Stefan? Qi Nan had no explanation for this given it seemed like Stefan had been sleeping there for some time.

Another consideration, which was far more important - what should they do now?

The obvious thing would be to wake Stefan up so he could get off the frog as quickly as possible, but any loud noises might also startle the frog and cause it to turn as well, which could end up dooming Stefan.

They needed a way to wake him up without alerting the frog…

Qi Nan reached for a pebble and was about to ask someone to carefully throw it at Stefan when he suddenly stretched, yawned, and opened his eyes. She froze, and so did the rest of the villagers. All of their eyes were now trained on Stefan, and none of them dared to move a muscle as they watched him wake up.

He turned his head sleepily towards them and then rubbed his eyes, not entirely sure that he believed what he was seeing. "Granny Qi? Village Chief Suki Tang? What're you all doing here?"

"What are we doing here? What are you doing on top of that thing?" Qi Nan hissed at him.

"On top of what?" Stefan asked, making his way down the frog's stomach with what seemed like not a single care in the world.

The moment he was off its stomach, the frog let out a loud croak, and then flipped itself so that it was no longer lying on its stomach, but was sitting on its haunches. Its size was now on full display as it towered over everyone else, and the mere action of it doing so had caused the earth to shake ever so slightly. The horses, despite being a good distance away, began whinnying in distress before someone went over to calm them down.

"Eh?" Stefan said, turning his head around and only now noticing the giant frog he was lying on. "Whoa… that's one big frog…"

Magical beasts, although they lacked the intelligence to use Liberomancy, usually several abilities and skills that allowed them to manipulate magic in various ways. They also had different mannerisms - some of them were quite antagonistic towards humans, actively hunting them, while others simply did not care either way for humans, and there were even some which were quite friendly towards people.

The Elephant Frog fell into the neutral category - and normally it would've quickly dealt with any human who annoyed it by taking a nap on its stomach, either by flicking such a person aside or just rolling over. But, as a matter of fact, there was a reason why it had not done so with Stefan.