'Ahh... sublime. Even if I die now, atleast I had a good taste in my mouth before then.' It wasn't like he was giving up, no way. Not after finally being given another chance.
However, he was doing all he could right now, and his situation still wasn't in the slightest favorable.
The flavor was almost indescribably immaculate, but maybe that was because he was so damn hungry. It felt like ages since he had put anything in his mouth... pause.
Rich and sweet juices quickly overwhelmed his mouth and taste buds, like cold, melted sweets coating every inch of his tongue.
Then, as they slowly traveled down his throat, it felt like he was being rejuvenated from within.
In fact, the flavor was almost too good!
Every morsel and cell in his body felt better after consuming the fruit. His muscles felt stronger, his core felt warm, and his eyes felt sharper.
Miraculously, the pain in his shin had also disappeared.
Looking down, Midas' eyes widened with shock as he realized he was no longer injured whatsoever. Only the blood from the injury remained, but there was no cut after wiping the blood off.
It was as if he had never been cut in the first place.
*Ding*
[You have consumed a ripe eloqi fruit and gained mana.]
[The mana has regenerated your body!]
[With mana inside your body, you have now unlocked the path of mana.]
[Congratulations! You have broken through into Foundation Tier.]
[Your body strengthens, and your mana stabilizes at your core.]
[Congratulations! You have unlocked a new skill: Status]
[Description: You can check the stats of your own character. This can be upgraded in the future to check the stats of other characters, creatures, and eventually, even non-characteristic items.]
This was all awesome and everything... but unfortunately, Midas had other things he was forced to focus on right now.
*BZZZZ*
The mosquito finally managed to reach Midas. It reached out with its long, lanky arms coated with a hard exoskeleton of chitin and grabbed a hold of Midas under his armpits.
With a powerful flap of its wings, the mosquito lifted Midas into the air and began traveling across the island with him.
He was shocked at first, but that shock quickly turned into fear as the mosquito flew higher and higher into the air.
Soon enough, Midas could see a large part of the island and coast from a bird's-eye viewpoint.
'In case I somehow survive this... let me map out this island a bit. After all, it's where I will be building my kingdom.' He thought, knowing this was why he was placed here, after all.
Midas noticed an odd-looking area for a split second. It didn't look natural.
In the distance, towards the east of his current direction, there seemed to be stone pillars.
He was most likely thousands of feet away, so he could barely make it out. It could have been gray trees for all he knew.
"But trees wouldn't grow so perfectly in line..." He muttered under his breath.
Soon enough, the mosquito flew above a hill and allowed Midas to look inside and see what looked to be Mosquito City.
Inside the hill was a divot. In the center, there was a small and dirty pond full of water.
All along the outskirts of the pond and in the rest of the area in the divot were several small holes and huts made of dirt that the mosquitoes were living in.
Some were small, others huge.
There looked to be roadways, highways, different types of housing, and more.
Finally, Midas noticed an area where there was a massive pile of what looked to be rotting carcasses and bones of animals.
'I'm fucked.' He cried inwardly.
As the mosquito flew over the hump of the hill, Midas immediately looked down.
'Okay... think! If I go in there, my chances of survival are zero. My first priority is to get out of this mosquito's grip. I think I could have done that the entire time, but since I was literally flying in the air, I didn't want to fall to my death. But right now, the bug is flying over the highest part of the hill before it drops back down into the divot. If I am going to fall, now is the best possible time!'
At that moment, Midas lifted a reddish, purple ball made of flower petals near the face of the mosquito.
'Last time when I stepped into this, the mosquito lost track of me. Its just a gamble, but this thing might allow me to hide my scent and escape.'
He crushed the ball, forcing it to explode in a cloud of green smoke.
At the same time, he forced his way out of the mosquito's grip, falling down to the ridge of the hill.
Dozens of mosquitoes were instantly alerted by this thud and began swarming toward Midas.
However, Midas had already booked it down the hill.
He tripped and fell a couple times, tumbling and rolling down the hill. Despite that, he thankfully didn't get badly injured.
However, it allowed him to have enough time to get back under the canopy of the jungle. Out of sight of anything above.
When the mosquitoes reached the area of green smoke, they all turned around and went back to their burrows.
The smoke was rancid, and since they didn't see Midas, there was no reason to proceed.
Along with that, the mosquito that had caught Midas had fallen out of the air--rendered unconscious from the smoke.
'Damn mosquitos... I swear, this will not be the last time you see me.' Midas thought to himself as he aggressively walked through the jungle as if he had some vendetta against it.
*CRUNCH*
Midas's left eyebrow raised in confusion, hearing a noise suddenly come from behind him.
More sounds of leaves brushing and sticks breaking sounded from his rear.
Upon turning around, Midas noticed the mosquito from before tumbling down the hill. It had pulled its legs towards its core, shielding itself, but instead turned itself into a ball.
Midas ducked as soon as he saw the mosquito, narrowly avoiding getting slammed by it in the face.
The bug crashed into a tree, sliding to the floor. It was moving a bit, but mostly useless.
Midas' feet immediately began moving. In fact, running! He darted to where the mosquito was, grabbing a large rock in one hand before thrusting it against the mosquito's head.
With a loud crunch and squish, the mosquito's head exploded into brain matter and green liquid.
'Nasty fucker... that's exactly what you deserve!' Midas couldn't help but grin as he panted heavily.
[You have slain a Giant Mosquito!]
[You have leveled up!]
[You have leveled up!]
[You have leveled up!]
[You have leveled up!]
[You have leveled up!]
[Level: 5]
[You have reached the threshold to rank up into the next tier.]
[Congratulations! You have reached the Core Tier.]
[You have gained a significant amount of mana. It has all gathered at your core, circulating. Your body's basic abilities have been significantly powered up.]