My System Just Exploded, And You Ask Me to Become a God?-Chapter 48 --Joad Saves a Life

The middle-aged man never dreamed that a moment of arrogance would cost him his life.

Though he had managed to escape the giant parrot’s onslaught, it was Joad’s pale-blue fireball that ultimately sent him to the afterlife.

Even in death, his face remained frozen in disbelief.

He had never thought that a mere bluish fireball could pose any real threat.

But the moment it touched him, he realized how utterly wrong he had been—and just how absurdly wrong.

The seemingly frail young man before him was hiding a truly terrifying power.

Meanwhile, the giant parrot turned a cautious gaze toward Joad.

The two stared at each other, tense but unmoving.

Joad stood next to the corpse of the middle-aged man, silently watching the giant parrot.

He wasn’t standing there out of respect or grief—he was guarding the body, wary that the dumb bird might try to eat it.

If that happened, all the loot would be gone, and that would truly be a loss.

Fortunately, the parrot eventually chose to retreat.

At its level of intelligence, it was already comparable to a human. It could sense that Joad meant it no harm, so it flapped its wings and left.

Once it was gone, Joad began cleaning up the battlefield.

But the spoils of war left him frowning.

Seriously? This is the Pyrothian Kingdom we’re talking about!

And yet... this is all they had?

A mere 50,000 mana stones.

Even with all the miscellaneous trinkets added in, it barely totaled 100,000 mana stones.

Given how powerful he had become, Joad’s demand for mana stones had reached an almost unreasonable level.

Sigh. Oh well... it’s free stuff anyway,

he consoled himself, then raised his hand and incinerated the two bodies with another wave of his signature pale-blue fireball.

Once everything was dealt with, his gaze fell on the unconscious girl still lying on the ground.

Since she was still breathing, Joad decided to take her with him.

He wasn’t a heartless person, and he didn’t particularly dislike her either.

After all, even in the middle of a life-or-death crisis, she had taken the time to warn him to flee.

That alone was enough to show she wasn’t a bad person.

Fine, he thought, I’ll save her life. Consider it paving the way for Senior Leit—she doesn’t look like someone of ordinary background.

With that, Joad turned and carried the girl away. But just as he hadn’t gone far, a terrifying surge of mana erupted behind him.

Once again, the giant parrot’s enraged screeches filled the sky—it had encountered another enemy, and a fierce battle was underway.

Damn, this dumb bird sure stays busy,

Joad muttered to himself, but he didn’t linger. He planned to head back to the academy.

However, in the very next moment, he sensed something off.

The giant parrot’s aura was rapidly approaching.

He turned around and saw the oversized bird flying straight toward him.

And following closely behind were two figures dressed in black.

Don’t tell me this dumb bird is trying to lead them to me as a distraction?!

In the blink of an eye, the giant parrot had almost caught up.

Despite its heavy injuries, its speed remained terrifyingly fast—far beyond what a normal archmage could match.

Its wounds were still bleeding heavily, and it clearly wouldn’t last much longer in flight.

Seeing it charging toward him, Joad turned and prepared to flee. But the bird, sensing his intentions, flapped even faster.

Joad was just about to launch an attack to knock it away before escaping himself—

when suddenly, the parrot began shrinking mid-air, growing smaller and smaller until it was no bigger than a palm-sized pet.

With a loud smack!, it crashed directly onto the unconscious girl’s back.

Pffft!

The girl, already heavily wounded, was almost knocked into the afterlife by that impact.

Joad was about to react when, unexpectedly, the giant parrot—now a tiny bird—actually spoke.

Or rather, maybe it shouldn’t even be called a giant parrot anymore.

A tiny parrot, or... a dumb bird, perhaps.

"Young man," it said in a strained, desperate voice, "save my life, and I’ll repay you a hundredfold."

A hundredfold return?

Joad’s eyes lit up. Within moments, he had made his decision.

This bird could talk—it was clearly not an ordinary magical beast.

And if he really wanted to flee, even those two black-clad pursuers wouldn’t be able to stop him.

Forget archmages—even grand archmages couldn’t outpace him in a chase.

This was the kind of high-risk, high-reward gamble that could pay off big.

And if the dumb bird dared go back on its word? 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

Well, then he’d just sell it.

An archmage-rank magical beast? That would fetch a fortune.

While ordinary folk might ride average magical beasts, imagine a wealthy show-off with a steed of this level.

It would be the ultimate status symbol—absolutely priceless.

That settled it. Joad made up his mind.

His body lit up with radiant magical light—

and in the next instant, he vanished without a trace.

"Where the hell did the bird go?!"

one of the black-clad men shouted, instinctively trying to scan the surroundings with his mind power.

But there was no trace—nothing.

The other man frowned.

"Damn it. Can’t believe it slipped away again!"

"We don’t have a choice. The higher-ups gave strict orders.

No matter what, we have to bring it back. We can’t let it escape again."

What they didn’t realize was that Joad hadn’t gone far.

Shortly after they left, he reappeared at the exact same spot—they had never even realized he was there all along.

Joad watched them fade into the distance, then glanced at the tiny parrot on his shoulder.

You better not bring me trouble, he thought silently.

After a moment of thought, he decided to keep the bird with him.

If it got discovered, those two would be back again. Better to keep things under wraps.

Without further delay, Joad returned to the academy.

He brought the injured girl to a dormitory room and examined her condition.

Her wounds were serious but not untreatable.

After disinfecting and bandaging the injuries, he fed her a magic potion and gently laid her on the bed.

Once her condition had stabilized, he turned his attention to the tiny parrot.

The creature had fallen unconscious, and Joad was still shouldering a massive risk for saving it.

If it didn’t give him something worthwhile in return—or worse, died anyway—he’d be taking a huge loss.

But while treating the bird, Joad made a shocking discovery.

A golden arrow was embedded in its body.

The arrow pulsed with terrifying light-elemental energy, relentlessly damaging the parrot’s life force.

In the entire empire, the light element was incredibly rare.

Most people would never even get the chance to encounter it.

What kind of terrifying enemy did this dumb bird manage to provoke...?