Chương 143: Chapter 148: Time to Think

This. Was. Fucking. RIDICULOUS!! Booom! Another wave of monsters exploded behind me as my Virulent Hex/Curse Detonation combo brought destruction to this section of the forest. Why was it all forest anyway, there were only a couple of fields around, just mountains, forests, and valleys, if before the tutorial I enjoyed my time in the woods, now it was getting stale, I couldn't wait to move a little, that Adrian said the next safe zone was situated in the middle of a lake, I could totally go for a swim right now.

I was multitasking heavily, my new skills were working wonders to take down the little shits always coming to face me, I passed the all-reptile territory, and now I was beset by a myriad of insects.

──────────── You have killed a Bladed Arcrididae Lv32 You have killed a Bladed Arcrididae Lv31 You have killed a Bladed Arcrididae Lv36 You have killed a Bladed Arcrididae Lv34 You have killed a Bladed Arcrididae Lv33 You have killed a Bladed Arcrididae Lv34 You have killed a Bladed Arcrididae Lv39 You have killed a Bladed Arcrididae Lv33 You have killed a Bladed Arcrididae Lv30 You have killed a Bladed Arcrididae Lv30 You have killed a Bladed Arcrididae Lv35 You have killed a Bladed Arcrididae Lv37 ──────────── This was only the last of the many notifications I got recently, I had no idea of the scientific name of this dog-sized insect, I wasn't an entomologist, but to me they looked a lot like grasshoppers on steroids, crossbred with a praying mantis, then covered in metal.

The things were hideous, like all insects, and deadly even by themselves, but it was their numbers and unrelenting pursuit that made them so dangerous. Well not for me, not now, but if it was before reaching the town, these would give me serious trouble, now if anything, they were good for amassing some tutorial points. Just this batch gave me four hundred something, since starting my return trip I got thousands of points, not as many as I would want, but overall it would be a good haul.

If only I could manage to fly though, I would be happier. I was starting to get used to my aura, especially after starting to use it to fight the myriad of monsters in this unending forest, I could briefly take control of it and weaponize it, sometimes I used it to launch myself in the air, to see my surroundings and correct my direction, not flying was a hell of a disadvantage when traveling.

I had to check around constantly because the forest didn't allow me to just go straight, but I was slowly improving my speed and working on my movements too, so it wasn't all bad, I would take it as a way of training and getting used to these new capabilities of mine, if there was something that Vix said and it proved true, it was that I was not a good physical fighter, he was right unfortunately.

While my stats granted me an exceptional body, and I could do with it a lot of things that were superhuman, it looked like I was a hell of a combatant, but the truth was that compared to my mental attributes, my physical ones were not easy for me to use. I had them, but couldn't pull out their maximum potential. It was that simple, and while training would help, I would never be a genius in martial arts, so competing against those kinds of people in close combat was a moot point.

Still, I refused to not even be able to make use of my speed, so I trained to best optimize my movements and learn how to accelerate with higher stats without sending myself face-first against a tree. A very serious possibility in this case.

But my mind was another thing, I took to my skills like a fish to water, my Piercing Eyes was getting pushed all the time, the uncontrollable aura was only making things easier in that department, while the monochromatic vision was a nuisance, every magical aspect was magnified tenfold, even more. Now I started to see the aura and mana radiation from each enemy I faced, allowing me to roughly guess their strength.

Not only that, but Accelerated Processing was slowly getting ingrained into my fighting style, especially in conjunction with the eyes, I was getting a feel for the enemies, their power and their numbers, positioning, etc. And after analyzing the situation I would accelerate my thoughts the right amount to let me face them without issue, while avoiding overexpending mana for the skill. It was really a hungry one, but my constant draining of my enemies was keeping me from running dry.

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I would have to say thanks to Quinn once again for his advice, probably I would have gone for Drain the Accursed anyway, but he made the choice easy and in time it proved a fantastic skill, it saved my life, and Alya's life too already, provided me the means to not run dry while fighting multiple enemies and with it I managed to learn to use life-force, create the curse that killed the stupid talking tree, and more. My thoughts drifted to Alya, what should I do with her?

I really didn't want to lose her, she was a capable team member and a loyal companion, I would have to see how our conversation would go, but I think I would nudge her toward staying with us and trying to find a way to fix her trait problem, after all I didn't believe the System shop didn't have a way of doing that. And I had the perfect skill… Veiled Marionette should see some use pretty soon, with Alya it could help suppress her anger, and with the others, it would prevent a lot of headaches.

I had no idea how powerful the influence was, but I was thinking of generally making the group more inclined to work together, that would ease tension, we already had a common goal, and the Guild was a tool to unite us, I just needed to capitalize on that and make the people move their asses and start being productive, as for Rhea… I won't use it on her. My head told me that I could just plant it and not use it, just as a precaution.

But my heart was telling me to just trust her, trust had to start somewhere, she already took an oath for protecting my secrets, I knew I could trust her, and there was nothing I wanted to change about her, not that I should, but still… Haa… I sighed loudly as I backhanded another insect.

I looked at my arm, it was smeared with dark ichor, disgusting, I used my ring to clean myself and rejoiced in a good purchase, I would have to check the store for more items like these, making life easier should be the purview of magic, no? I was going to abuse the hell out of this tutorial, to become stronger faster, to amass wealth, to create a powerful network that would work after we exited and to push out any alien that dared come to our planet.

I would become another Libu if necessary, I wasn't particularly fond of people in general, but I would be damned if I let some alien corporation come to Earth and take us all as slaves. Was it because of my curse that I was thinking like this? I wasn't a hero, not at all, I was selfish I knew that, and I accepted it. I cared little for the people around me, as long as they were of some use to me I was fine with helping them and tagging along for the ride, then why was I thinking of being the savior of humanity?

Was it because I was the strongest person in my group, maybe subconsciously I felt a sense of responsibility toward them? My therapist would go crazy if she heard me speaking like that, no wait, I fired her the same day the tutorial began. No matter, I would do what I must, but what if Adrian was so much more powerful than me? What would I do then? Give him control of how to proceed forward? He knew the future after all, it would be only natural.

Yeah no, that wasn't going to happen, but how I'd move all depended on how strong he was, and if he wanted to take charge in the first place, maybe he wasn't the kind to do that, a solo player, giving information just to help other people, he seemed to go along well with Quinn, and me, if what he stated in the letter was true. Too little information to decide right now, I would have to prepare and see.

In any case, I would try to squeeze him for all he was worth, his knowledge was a fucking cheat if I ever saw one, how much would I be able to improve if I went back now? Starting again with all my memories would be crazy, and if I did it many times over… actually, how much time had he spent in the tutorial already? Months? Half a year? We had a hundred days for completing the tutorial, so if he waited and trained that long then went back, many times…

there was no saying how much he progressed, but if I had to be honest, I wouldn't like my odds against someone like him. I would have to tread carefully, play mind games instead of using force, and if he knew of my curse somehow… I was screwed.