Wizard: I am a goblin

Chapter 17 The Toad of Light

Gebu sat cross-legged in the center of the rune, feeling the tadpoles formed by the aggregation of ether swimming through his body.

The Book of Sand revealed words.

"Summoning summoned creatures, unlike the wizard's hand, requires a longer duration and a more persistent form of etheric existence."

"The caster needs to solidify the aggregated ether, giving it a logical framework for action. If successful, the ether will obey the caster's will and act accordingly."

"The quickest way to learn to summon a magical creature is to have the caster imagine a familiar small animal and then have the aether simulate it."

This means I have to choose a small animal as my magical pet's form. A magical pet, well, that makes sense.

The goblin thought for a moment and remembered that when he was still a little goblin, he had once kept a pet toad. It was called a pet, but it was actually caught from a puddle by the cave to play with. After playing with it enough, he was so cheeky that he licked it. He was numb for a long time, and all he could see were tiny people.

Then he would lick it whenever he had a spare moment.

That toad was one of the few companions that Gebu had as he grew up. Gebu named him "Big Eyes".

Unfortunately, an accident led to Big Eyes' demise in the soup pot—that afternoon, after drinking the soup, the entire camp of goblins were grabbing at the little man in front of them.

"Big Eyes, I can see you again." The little goblin's eyes were a little wet.

Following the prompts of the Book of Sand, just as he had constructed a pool of ether in his meditation, Gebu imagined the appearance of a toad in his mind: a wrinkled, tumor-covered back laden with countless egg cases, its skin perpetually damp and glistening with an oily sheen.

Let the ether flow, then construct and shape it.

The goblin sat cross-legged on the ground, gently touching the transparent surface with his fingers. Ripples spread across the invisible membrane, and as the waves dispersed, the veil that had been separating the tadpoles of light melted away.

A curious tadpole tentatively crossed the non-existent boundary and came to Gebu's feet. The thing had no face or organs, only a pure energy, the fuzzy light emanating from its edges like a bee's rear end, or a firefly.

One, two...

Ten, one hundred, one thousand...

So many...so beautiful.

Thousands upon thousands of tadpoles of light burst forth from the world reflected in the mirror, rising like blazing flames, leaping, reveling, and dancing. The light they emitted illuminated this empty, meditative world, transforming it from a deep pool of night into a river of light.

The goblin couldn't help but stand up. The scene was like a dream, and he joined in the ecstasy of the etheric gathering.

The ether enveloped him, caressing his green skin. Geb's body was illuminated; the goblin was ugly and short, with dull, wrinkled skin—Geb felt trapped in the ether's embrace, and couldn't help but feel ashamed of himself.

But the aether did not hate him or abandon him because he was an ugly goblin.

According to the description in "Etherism: Basic Meditation Method", etheric aggregates have no human emotions... but Geb felt that these cute light tadpoles were clearly expressing something.

joy?

gratitude?

Passion?

A warm feeling seeped through Gob's skin into his body, the warmth penetrating his muscles and embracing the goblin's bones.

Unbeknownst to Geb, this goblin body could also sense this sincere and tender emotion.

There was no pain, no impatience, no jealousy or hatred ingrained in the goblin race.

The feeling of being embraced was unfamiliar... yet very comfortable.

Or it feels like a lifetime ago.

The last time I experienced this feeling was when I was still human... It's been so long, I've forgotten so many important things.

The goblin was so engrossed in the warm sensation that it was completely unaware that its feet had left the ground.

Countless tadpoles transformed into a giant toad of light. On the toad's back were hundreds of egg cases, only one of which was translucent and open—this was Gebu's seat.

I became the Toad Knight.

Lacking any point of reference, there was no way to compare the size of this giant toad. All Gebu knew was that his entire body couldn't fill the lump on its back.

The toad pushed off backward, leaped into the air, and left a warm arc of light in its wake.

"It's flying!" Geb exclaimed.

The toad flew to its peak and began to fall.

Like riding a roller coaster, the little goblin clung tightly to the edge of the egg case, his heart pounding in his throat, the downward momentum making him scream.

boom!

The toad landed, and the goblin's butt went numb from the impact!

The earth is shaking and the mountains are shaking.

The toad jumped up again!

In this infinitely extending space, the giant toad of light hopped continuously. Gebu, riding on its back, could only hold on with all his might to avoid falling off.

As the toad continued to bounce, Gebu gradually grew accustomed to the way the behemoth beneath him moved. Like a cowboy, he straddled the toad's back, his hands gripping the protrusions of the egg sheath on the toad's back as if holding reins.

Little by little, Gebu used his mental power to send signals to the etheric toad.

"Make it smaller, even smaller."

With a thud, the toad landed, and some scattered light tadpoles were shaken off by the tremor, falling behind and disappearing into the darkness.

But this is not a bad thing. As more and more tadpoles fall behind, the remaining tadpoles form a tighter and tighter group that makes up the toad's body, and the toad's shape becomes clearer and clearer.

With each leap, the toad shrank and its body darkened, as if the light it emitted was being absorbed into its body—the toad's appearance became more concrete, no longer a blurry, glowing shape, but a living, breathing giant toad with visible skin texture.

After jumping several times, the toad was about the size of a rhinoceros. Gebu jumped off the toad's body.

Hey.

The goblin landed and turned to look at the toad. The toad stared back at him, its bulging eyes revealing no emotion.

Hmm...it looks a lot like Big Eyes, but it's still a bit too big, and the proportions aren't quite right.

Gebu tried to use his arm to gesture in front of him, adjusting the shape of the toad through willpower.

Make the head bigger, the back longer, the legs sticking out... and then shrink the whole thing.

The toad grew to the size of a donkey.

Smaller... not enough.

The toad turned into a dog.

Even smaller!

The toad turned into a beetle.

Too small! Too big! Too big! Too big!

After a moment, Gebu looked at the palm-sized toad in front of him and nodded in satisfaction.

"Gu-gua."

The toad shrugged its cheeks and croaked expressionlessly.

This is my magical pet?

The goblin picked up the toad. It was incredibly lifelike.

However, it's a bit inconvenient to move around; you can only jump around randomly, and your speed isn't good either.

"Let's fly!" Gebu said to the toad.

The toad stared dead at the goblin, without reacting.

Drones that can't fly are kind of useless.

We need to give him wings.

Gebu scratched his head. He had finally managed to solidify those etheric aggregates into a toad, and now he had to redesign it. He wondered how much effort that would take.

Geb figured his meditation time was almost up. He felt a headache coming on.

It's like working hard for half a day, only to find that there's still 10% of the budget left, but half the work is still unfinished.

Hurry up! Finish developing the remaining features!

Geb spent a few minutes quickly setting up a flight mode for "Big Eyes".

The toad in front of me had bat wings and a tail, with pointed little feet resting on the ground. Yet it retained the upper body of a toad.

This bat-toad hybrid is out of proportion; it's top-heavy, its wings can't support its belly, and its whole body exudes an aura of disharmony.

"Uh... it's a bit of a letdown, but it's a magical creation anyway, so I can fix it later. I'll just make do with it for now," Geb consoled himself.

The magical creature glared at the goblin, its frog eyes revealing a hint of sorrow for some reason.

"...What's wrong? You have something to say?"

"Coo...quack?"

"Speak properly, why are you swearing?!"

Summon a magical pet - Learned!