Chapter 22: Sh*t.

The Captain did not disregard the exhaustion shown on the faces of the volunteers and immediately made them rest. They may have adapted to the battlefield but that didn't mean there wasn't any wear and tear like that of a piece of hardware. Physical and mental well-being were a must for greenhorns, at least it must be gradually introduced. They were not soldiers to begin with!

"Alright volunteers, take advantage of these moments of silence and rest. You may not have the chance to do so once a new wave starts again." 

Since the Captain had already given the order, would the volunteers still reject? They went near the truck and found their own places to take a rest on. Some boarded the truck while some were on the ground. However, what was similar among them was that each was still holding on to their guns. In fact they kept it close to themselves. As if it gave them comfort. It was like their lover, or their companion in their revenge. 

Titus likewise did not shy away from the opportunity. He might not be as tired as the others given that he had already undergone strengthening, he still needed to rest and strive to be at his peak. How could he slack in getting those crystals? Of course there was also another reason he took the chance to rest. And that was without a doubt, to use the crystals he had just gotten.

His personal strength was the priority! Only then could he achieve his goal of protecting his loved ones. He also planned to bring back some, he would probably get those just before they had to go back to base, so that at least Uncle and Lee would be able to keep up with him and be healthy in general.

He casually found an excuse to 'relieve' himself that was 'caused' by the 'bloodiness' of the battlefield. It worked like a charm. 'Heh, this guy finally realized his doings just now.' The people who saw the way Titus acted as he dragged the corpses thought among themselves, thinking that he woke up from his 'vengeful' state.

Apart from a reminder to not stray away too far and not be careless, his journey 'into the bushes' was smooth sailing and raised no doubts.

Titus first inspected his perimeter and double checked his surroundings against the eyes of people and of course monsters. He first used his heightened sense as a detection alert if something or someone would ever get close to him. Finally he proceeded to 'relieve' himself.

He took out 3 crystals from the eight first. He was feeling a little experimental. Time was limited so he wanted to find out if he could raise his absorption efficacy. Could he absorb more than one crystal at a time? He was willing to test it now since he already strengthened himself several times so he had the confidence his body could withstand it. As for the pain, he didn't care much about it as long as he could get stronger faster.

He broke the 3 crystals and whiffed in the fog inside of them. A gush of energy entered his stream of mana like a waterfall. It was the same as before, though now, there was no direct strength increase and it was all turned into mana instead. But as the energy was reaching its peak, some of the mana suddenly diverted from the main stream. It rebounded because of some sort of barrier at first but once a crystal's worth of energy reinforced that diverted stream, it pushed through the said barrier and created a new path! 

If the stream before was a food chain, now with the addition of a new path, it turned into the preliminary stages of a food web.

Before, the stream was flowing in a general path such as from head to hand, back and then legs. But now as the stream flowed to the 'hand', one of his fingers in each hand, specifically the pinky finger, now had its own bona-fide and independent flow, unlike before which was just 'reinforced' by the mana in the hand in general.  If he could punch a tree before, now he could poke a tree. Yes, he could poke a tree before if he decided to focus the mana on his finger, but compared to now, it was completely like heaven and earth, which basically gave him an iron pinky. If all of his fingers had such streams then it would directly translate into a true iron fist and not some meager reinforced wannabe-iron fist from before!

As Titus was marvelling at the new development, he suddenly felt sticky. He also smelled something peculiar. With his senses heightened for the purpose of security, the feeling and smell couldn't be more prominent and noticeable. And bizarrely all of it came from himself!

Titus knew himself that he did stink because of the blood but this stink was very different, which made him doubt. This stink smelled like sh*t! The sticky feeling also made him feel like he bathed in liquid sh*t...

He immediately looked at himself and found that he was covered with a brownish, almost blackish, substance. Was this the impurities like that in Islam?

"Hweok~!"

He wanted to laugh out of excitement but realized that it might blow his cover and it would be out of 'character.' Why would he laugh, you might ask? Because if this was really impurities then it was all nothing but benefits! He thought that if the impurities would be likened to the sh*t in a chicken intestine, if the sh*t was cleaned out, wouldn't the chicken intestine be cooked into a tasteful dish (barbecue)? The sauce would be absorbed by the intestine better since it would not mix with the disgusting sh*t, and would occupy the inside of the intestine more securely giving it a heavenly taste. A perfect vessel that had its own distinct flavor!  

P.S the chicken intestine is an Asian street food

Not saying that Titus was tasty... But he could be in *cough* bed— anyways, it translates to his current situation. Since the impurities were rid from him, the previous space occupied by it was now freed and emptied. It would be easy to fill it with mana and there wouldn't be contradictions in the absorption process anymore. And also, slowing down the process of nourishment since there would be no more impurities that would be needed to be combatted by the mana while it was doing its job.

Though there was still two questions left in Titus' mind. 

One, was the impurity cleansed only in his muscles and does it not include his organs? Well, he feels it is like so... 

Second, what would he do now that he's covered in 'sh*t?' 

What a sh*tty situation he is in...

Proofread by: @lynn

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Author's note:

Updates will be once or twice a week! There is a guaranteed update every Friday! If there's a second chapter for the week, it will be posted at random since it is dependent on when will I have time to write. Enrollment is now starting so school isn't far hence the update schedule is minimal to suit my IRL situation (along with my translation hobby).