Limitless Fortune: I Collect SSS-Rank Skills as Payment-Chapter 174: Rules of the Mirage Pond and Bronze Coins!

The frog seemed quite annoyed by their eagerness to leave his place, yet his small hands didn't falter a bit, catching the bronze coins thrown in his direction with a big smile.

"Very well, since you have the desire to leave, who am I to stop? Just go."

After collecting the bronze coins and storing them somewhere safe, the frog waved his hands directly, removing all those who gave him the coins from the Mirage Pond.

"Okay, now that they are gone, what about you four? Did y'all decide to continue fishing?"

The frog said while once again rubbing his hands with glee while inadvertently glancing in Lucien's direction.

He seemed to be waiting for them to pay 1 bronze coin, which was required to continue fishing in his pond.

"Tirrigggg!"

"This is my Toll to continue fishing. Now don't disturb me."

Surprisingly, the one to pay first was the shadowy figure at the far corner of the pond, whom Lucien couldn't see clearly.

From the sweet and ethereal voice of the person, he could at least feel that the person was a woman.

"Haha…okay, okay, sorry for the disturbance. Happy fishing!"

The frog was visibly delighted by another bronze coin, puffed up his cigar, and stored it in his mana ring immediately.

Then he slightly waved his hand in the direction of the shadowy figure directly covering it with white fog, unable to see from Lucien's direction.

It seemed some kind of array that could isolate and allow that person to silently fish as she desired.

Only after doing that did he finally look at the middle-aged man with a goatee and ask with a smile,

"Okay, what about your toll? 1 bronze coin for continuing fishing, 2 bronze coins to leave.

What do you want to do? Be fast, I don't have all day."

The frog's behaviour shifted 180 degrees the moment he looked at the middle-aged man, causing the guy to shiver slightly in his place.

To be honest, Lucien was really confused as to why that guy was more nervous than anyone around here.

After all, although he didn't know what bronze coins were, it was just two of them.

For someone who seemed to be from the World of Origin, it shouldn't be that hard to get them, right?

"S-Sir guardian…I just…I-I just stumbled upon this place accidentally. It was not my intention to come here at all."

But it seemed Lucien wasn't right as the middle-aged man visibly began to sweat while stuttering in extreme nervousness.

Rather than paying for bronze coins, he began to explain his situation in a low voice.

"S-Sir…it was a mistake. Right…it was a mistake that I came here unprepared. S-so, can you please let me go this time?"

The middle-aged man begged the frog in front as he had no bronze coins at all. In fact, he was being hunted down by his enemy and, unluckily, stumbled upon this place.

When he first realized he was actually transported into the Mirage Pond, he almost lost his guard.

After all, Mirage Pond was one of the Five-Star Scenes in this low interface of World of Origin that was notorious for sucking the blood of those who stumbled upon it.

That's because this place was completely based on Luck.

Scenes in the World of Origin were those places that purely operated on rules and were guarded by Guardians of the Low Interface of the World of Origin.

If someone who entered those places wanted to leave, besides following the rules and completing the task of that particular scene, they could do nothing.

It didn't matter how powerful they were.

The only exception was if someone had Coins laced with the power of Origin, the Guardians would make an exception, letting the people go.

But if someone couldn't complete the task and couldn't fork out coins as decided by the Guardian, heh…

"1 Bronze coin to continue fishing, and 2 Bronze coins to leave. It isn't much, is it?"

Sure enough, after seeing the middle-aged man begging him, the frog's face turned dark as the bottom of a pot. His wide grin faded, and the air around him grew heavy.

The pond began to ripple on its own, faint waves spreading outward. A strange chill spread through the air, and the once-calm water gave off an eerie light.

The frog's aura twisted, turning sharp and suffocating, as if the whole pond had come alive, ready to swallow anyone who dared to move.

The situation turned deadly in an instant. Even though Lucien wasn't the target of that aura, he felt suffocated.

Just by feeling it slightly, he felt that even if he was in his heyday, he couldn't be a match for this frog in front.

'So powerful…which realm is that?'

Lucien felt that this was the most powerful existence he had ever come across.

He was sure that this guy was way more powerful than a Lord Realm existence, or even two or more higher.

He just couldn't fathom how powerful this frog was. 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

"S-Sir…I-I am not lying. I was just caught off guard and couldn't bring the coins this time. P-Please, can you let me go? Or…or…maybe let me fish one more time?"

The middle-aged man visibly paled after the fiercer aura pressed his whole body.

Lucien could see that he could no longer move and could only talk.

Unfortunately, this guy really seemed to have no coins with him as he once begged desperately.

"S-Sir…I was this close to fishing for something. It is just…I was disturbed by someone. Can you give me a chance again? I promise, whatever I fish from this Mirage Pond, I will give it to you."

The man felt that the more he talked, the more the pressure around him increased, and he began to babble whatever he came up with.

"And…a-and, I will even give my 5, no ten bronze coins once you let me leave. What do you think? Please, sir, can you-"

"Enough! Am I running a charity here?"

The frog finally couldn't take his begging anymore and snapped, stopping the middle-aged man from even talking.

Only his desperate eyes could move, which were filled with pleas for a chance.

Unfortunately, the frog seemed not to care about whatever his situation was.

"The rule of the Mirage Pond is very simple. Either you fish for something, or you get fished. There is no in between."

The frog snarled while puffing up smoke from the cigar, looking at the middle-aged man with his cold and murderous gaze.

"Since you cannot substitute your life with Bronze coins, then you have to get fished. This is no in between."

"Swish!"

As soon as the frog said those words, the calm surface of the lake stirred violently as if something deep below had awakened.

The depth of the lake twisted, bubbles rising one after another before a massive shadow shot upward.

A large fish-shaped monster broke through the surface, its body slick and black, with jagged teeth glinting coldly under the light. It almost resembled a piranha, only far larger and far crueler.

Without a sound, it lunged forward and snapped the middle-aged man clean in half.

He couldn't even scream. His eyes stayed wide, fixed on those serrated teeth before his body disappeared into the creature's gaping maw.

The surface of the pond turned bloody red before the monster plunged back into the depths and vanished, leaving behind only faint ripples and the scent of iron.

'What the fuck!'

The scene was so sudden that Lucien jumped to his feet, his heart pounding in dread.

He never thought that the middle-aged man would die so suddenly, and that too, of being eaten by a fish lower than his realm so violently.

Unfortunately, due to the frog's pressure, the middle-aged man couldn't even defend himself and died with no suspense.

All that because he didn't have the bronze coins to pay for.

'Damn…I don't have bronze coins either. What the fuck am I gonna do?'

Lucien thought in dread, as unlike that middle-aged man, he didn't even have his original power this time, not that it mattered much to this frog anyway.

'What kind of quest is this? Isn't this just trying to kill me outright?'

Lucien's heart jumped in his chest while his brain moved rapidly, trying to see if there was any loophole he had forgotten to look at.

But no matter how he looked at it, he found none. Heck, this damn World of Origin didn't even notify him that this was his class ascension quest.

It just threw him here to die.

If not for his system, he couldn't even know his situation.

'Wait..system…my status panel!'