Short, Light, Free

Chapter 165: The Book of Revelation III

 

We stayed silent for a moment and one monkey came toward me slowly.

It reached its hand somewhere for my wallet, and other monkeys started reaching behind their ears, under their armpits, even from their behinds, and took my bills out one by one.

I took my wallet back and waved the bills away. “Forget about the money.”

The monkeys held the bills toward me, clearly having no intention of taking it back.

Sighing, I took all of the bills back. Each one was damaged in some ways and smelled weird.

I stuffed all of them into my wallet before putting it away.

The monkeys broke into a dance after.

That night, we slept in a circle.

When I got up the next day, I saw that the monkeys had gathered a bunch of fruits.

I looked up at my trees and saw that they had all been taken over by the monkeys.

One monkey was in a tree, not even caring that the tree might not be able to handle its weight.

I was experiencing a mental breakdown when they noticed that I was awake.

They started dancing in celebration.

Frustrated, I took my booklet out. The LV1 was now golden.

I could use the book again.

The first page was still black while the second page was now blank.

I looked at the monkeys and they returned the glance.

I picked up the burned branch and started writing.

Smarten the monkeys up.

A blue light flashed across and the page turned black.

I looked at the monkeys but nothing seemed to have changed. They were still climbing all about.

Wait? What did I just write?

Why didn’t I write for myself to become smarter?

Ten times my current IQ would be great!

Ugh.

…

Over the following days, I tried everything.

I made the monkeys smarter than me, as smart as scientists and extremely intelligent…

The same blue light would appear and my LV1 would turn black.

However, even after a week of experimenting, these monkeys behaved no differently from before. They acted as they pleased.

As I was about to give up, I noticed something strange.

“You fools!” I shouted.

“You fools!”

“Fools!”

“You! Come over,” I instructed, pointing at one of them.

That monkey actually came down from the tree and ran over to me.

It seemed that my wish did come true, only in a different way from what I had expected.

It would be useful, nevertheless.

“All of you! Come down,” I ordered.

“Come down.”

“Down.”

…

They did as told.

“Stand in a row,” I tried with a softer voice. The echo was too annoying.

To my surprise, they followed my instructions.

I watched Journey to the West when I was young and had always wondered why the monkey king, Sun Wukong, chose to sneak a bite of the peach of immortality.

A few days later, I finally understood the reason.

“B*stard! Why did you pluck such a small apple down?” I exclaimed.

“Small apple down!”

“Down!”

…

“Why are you putting it back? Do you think that will work?”

“That will work?”

“Work?”

…

Yes. These monkeys were under my command, but my orders had to be basic and easy to comprehend.

I had to be extremely specific as well.

Days passed decently and I managed to expand my plantation to thrice its original size.

The first batch of trees was already about three meters tall and the fruits on there were round and plump.

They weren’t as big as the original tree, but it supplied more than enough for the 14 of us.

I also tried writing other wishes.

Some examples: Let me out, bring a human in here and so on. These did not work.

No light would flash whenever I wrote about leaving the place.

The instructions made it clear, though, that whatever I wrote would appear within an hour’s time.

Although it was also stated that the effect depended on my level, it seemed that at my current level, nothing much could be accomplished.

There must be LV2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7…

How was I supposed to level up? I couldn’t figure it out.

Was I to reign over this land? Was I supposed to rule over these 13 monkeys?

I looked down at my feet and shouted after a short pause, “Let’s dig the ground, everyone!”

“The ground, everyone!”

“Everyone!”

The land was limited in size and we had seen everything above land.

There must be something underneath.

In half a day’s time, I fashioned a tree ladder from two trees and the monkeys have dug a five square meter hole. There was nothing in there, however.

We slept by the hole that night.

Some time passed and a loud boom and violent shaking woke me up.

I grabbed onto whatever I could; the ground was rocking forcefully.

The monkeys cuddled together and a few held onto my arm to prevent me from falling into the hole.

The sky was completely dark.

I looked up and saw a huge planet colliding with mine.

The vibration gradually ceased and peace returned.

I half squatted slowly before getting up fully.

There was a huge tree on that new planet as well.

Upon closer inspection, I saw a human’s figure along with what seemed like a pack of wolves.

It was too far away so I couldn’t catch a clear view.

My pocket was burning hot at this point.

I took the booklet out; it felt at least 50 or 60 degrees hot.

Above the LV1 on the cover was a big flaming golden word: PK

I turned to the first black page and on it floated some white words.

A month after your wish has been made, the page will lead you into a competition. Your objective is to annihilate all your enemy or to render them immobile. Gain experience from each successful victory.

I was at a loss for words.

I had spent seven whole pages over consecutive days, wishing for the monkeys to become smarter.

A PK every day?

7 PKs? Oh, my mother.

I looked at the booklet before me and wondered if the person opposite had seen the same things as me.

He must’ve used the booklet and his month must’ve been up.

I had to fight wolves with monkeys? Was there even a fighting chance?

I observed the pack of wolves as they arrived at my planet from the collision.

My monkeys were hiding behind me in fear.

Riding on the head wolf was a lady.

The imposing aura about them lay in contrast against our side. I was even surprised that the monkeys did not push me into their hands.

I turned around.

Emptiness.

All 13 monkeys had climbed up into their respective trees.

The wolves were coming closer and the lady had a somewhat malevolent look on her face.

I turned to flee.

I had never climbed any tree in my entire life, but that had got to change.