Tetsu didn't so much conquer his social awkwardness or abandon his childhood dreams as he chose to focus on the twenty other thoughts occupying his mind, dismissing those of lesser significance.
As the group submerged further into the river, they scowled at the newcomers' expressionless faces. Amidst many beauty queens, not a single one, nor their quantity, captivated a man.
They believed he must have experienced more than his fair share of pickings back on Earth.
A smaller Blobfish, at a distance, protruded its mucus-covered head above the water, poised for an attack.
Tina, the sole other individual vigilant of lurking beasts, caught sight of the hideous fish's snort. Before redirecting her attention to Tetsu, who was lost in a daydream, she warned him of the impending danger just as a projectile hurtled into the river.
*!BOOM!*
An immense explosion erupted beneath the water's surface.
The fish's aim went astray as an arrow pierced its eyes, and the recoil from the fish's skill disintegrated its head into pieces.
"Must always have a failsafe," Tetsu sighed.
The first arrow was preserved, thanks to the fish's eyes absorbing most of the momentum, while the second arrow, despite having a better cushion, was obliterated in the explosion.
"Ah! My streak of bad luck returns."
"He didn't hesitate for a second. It showed up and was gone. Just like that," Tina stares in astonishment at Tetsu. "I didn't even witness him take any action. What's with this guy? He dispatches two level six intellectual creatures without breaking a sweat."
"I suggest you head back," Tetsu mumbles while gnawing on the rock-hard Blobfish scales. "Take this fellow with you if possible," he gestures toward the other fish in the water.
"What are we supposed to do with that?" a girl exclaims.
"Protection, sustenance, intelligence, practice, storage, refuge, and progress comes to mind. You can figure out more on the way," Tetsu shrugged and waved them off.
"Is he shooing us away? Us? All of us, right?"
*!BOOM!*
"Now what?" Tetsu mumbled with a mouthful of fish meat.
The Blobfish erupted like a volcano, ejecting naked men instead of lava. The cluster of men bathing upstream had all been engulfed by the second beast, and none seemed to have suffered harm.
"You couldn't even delay or alert us before two beasts swallowed you fools," Tina berated.
"Our weapons were left on shore," an elite defended.
"Left your brains behind too?" Tina retorted.
Before the ungrateful men could escalate the situation, several stones pelted them from all directions, rendering them unconscious. If they had no injuries before, they sure had many now.
"What was that?" the girls braced themselves for a confrontation.
"Sorry!" Tetsu shouldered the blame.
He triggered runes on pebbles further away upon noticing the bulging flesh of the fish. They gained momentum before the explosion, and Tetsu had prearranged an assault on whatever emerged, or to use [Pave Path] to aid the group's escape.
As the humans burst out and the women recognized them, Tetsu forgot to deactivate the runes, and he didn't warn them before, because, with increasing fatigue, he was neither capable of running nor explaining why they should flee.
The bodies drifted downstream as the women stared at Tetsu in disbelief. "Does anyone know a good spot to find beast hoards?"
"Why do you want to know?" Xania questioned, her tone accusatory.
"To get back some meat to eat?" Tetsu raised an eyebrow. Tina pointed a trembling finger due south, and he bowed in gratitude. "I'll be taking this one," he patted the fish with three massive holes. "You can have that one, and also, the guys are floating away." He pointed, and the group snapped out of their shock, swimming after the men. "You guys are slow, huh? It's hard to survive this way." He waved them goodbye before they could comprehend his insult.
"Did he... You... let him go? With what... he said," Hana stuttered.
"He caught me off guard, too!" Tina gaped at the space where Tetsu had stood. "He took out two high-level beasts. I couldn't even see through one of their levels." She fell back into Hana's arms. "Our rumors weren't even half exaggerated. I bet his first fight was ridonkulous."
"Is that school full of people like him?"
"Huh-huh," Tina nodded and turned to Xania, the skeptic, who for the first time, remained quiet without imposing her opinion on others. "What are you thinking about?"
Xania surveyed everyone, then turned to Tina with a puzzled expression. "Everyone moved toward me in a straight line, even though they were in the water."
"SO…?"
"He actively moved away from me, as if he wanted to avoid me."
"Oh my god, you're getting too desperate."
"It is a bit concerning," Hana chuckled, with a hint of nervousness.
"That's not the point. With the domain skill and me—the skill acting as a beacon, he should have been attracted—led straight to me—this place," Xania gasped for air, needing to correct her sentence based on Tina's cringed expressions.
"We get it already," Tina sighed. "After he returns, we'll all help you get laid."
The group burst into laughter, offering various tips for the couple's first night together.
"That… no! I don't like boys—him, no!"
———<>|*|<>———
"I should've moved farther upstream," Tetsu frowned. "At least then I could have gotten more loot." He stared at the pouch. "Should I still go? Nah..." he suppressed the impulse. "They need it more than I do." He caught a vague chant and sighed. "If only I stumbled onto those by chance. Now my damn guilt won't let me."
Tetsu pulled the fish farther away until the chants subsided. "Far enough," he agreed and started a section of semi-roasting and eating. After devouring half of the meat, his stomach reaching the halfway point as well, he dug a hole and slept for another twelve hours to alleviate the fatigue levels.
This time around, [Slumber Recovery] didn't restore his resources faster because Tetsu had yet to figure out how to tackle fatigue. The concept was too vague for him to find a solution, and before falling into the sweet embrace of slumber, his mind had been filled with the triumph of proving another concept.
The elites had forgotten their weapons on the shore and were rendered useless, while Tetsu would never have to face such a ridonkulous problem, for he would be his weapon forever.
Myriad dreams of victories against elites filled Tetsu's slumber, while he rendered any surprise attack useless, for the world had never faced a living weapon before. The lingering dream left hints of ways to develop new techniques and ideas, opening up new avenues to explore.
"Slumber recovery rules," Tetsu groaned.
After another round of meals, he pressed forward to find a hoard to fulfill the promise, all the while pondering over the new concepts.
The pouch, now one of his most prized possessions, might be made of a material capable of holding a pocket dimension. If this were the case, one can place or link the dimension with the pouch and turn it into a portable dimension. If the dimension was never within the pouch, he can borrow others' possessions without them realizing it or link it to another where he can remove someone else's achievements.
More than ever, Tetsu wanted to bite and test every aspect of the pouch. If he determines the intricacies of space or the material, that will open up too many avenues for him to exploit.
"I should've stolen more pouches, at least," he frowned.
Having only one pouch, he didn't want to risk the mission. Tetsu considered the difficulty and assumed he might have to work without pants. And there was no way in hell he would secure it elsewhere. Even if he senses them throughout the battle and no lower-level attacks can scratch them, he doesn't trust his luck to keep them safe. One ultimate move, like an electric snowman or rock-thirsty sludge, is enough to fill the decision with regret. If it were about to break, let it break alongside him.
The pouch has its disadvantages. The biggest one is that while Tetsu can neglect the weight, he also loses connection with the items, and having the mental shelf open during an intense fight is too risky.
This disconnection was one reason Tetsu suspected an alternate dimension. The pants had a massive radius, but they could not connect him to a different dimension. If they did, Tetsu would have died of envy.
Tetsu noted the distance as the time passed, as he had a timer and no map. Two hours after crossing the river, he found the first hoard. These beasts resembled porcupines, known as [Quillspire]. They rolled around like balls of spikes, with their quills ready to strike.
He disregarded the hoard because they had little to no edible meat. It had nothing to do with their scary skills and incredible perception.
Their quills acted as spears that could puncture multiple holes into their closer targets and be used as projectiles for mid to long-range skills. They also sensed their enemies' locations within a fifty-meter radius, covering both earth and air, creating a perfect circle of detection.
Quillspire's had some of the best defenses Tetsu had ever seen; one cannot sneak up on them, and piercing through a one-meter-long spike to reach the main body is a daunting task. The mere idea made him flinch and climb higher. Not that it helped, because they can climb trees or connect with other porcupine balls and throw their companions to reach their target.
Once they rolled into a ball, they either connected with another, swung, bounced off, tackled, or launched off each other. They did not need intellect to come up with countless ways to use such a skill. Even if Tetsu caught one before it rolled up into a ball—which happened within the blink of an eye, that is, at the rate Tetsu blinks—they always traveled in hordes, making it impossible for the assailant to escape death.
Hundred porcupine balls bouncing off each other like bey-blades will skewer you sooner or later. It's only a matter of time, which is never on your side, not even in your dreams.
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