[Escaping from the jungle]
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...
"This guy is damn fast!!"
-Gyaoooooo!!-
Ryu was currently in the process of escaping from the giant vulture, his legs were already worn out and his breath had turned Haggart a long time ago, probably because he hadn't stopped running ever since the vulture started following after him half an hour ago.
Contrary to most of his previous enemies, this one was the fastest and most persistent so far, as it could fly and keep its eye on him no matter how fast Ryu went.
He couldn't rest for even a second, as Ryu knew that as soon as he would slow down the vulture would swoop down and eat him whole without even allowing him to do anything else.
'Maybe exploding its stomach using my ki from the inside isn't a bad idea... No, what the hell am I thinking?'
As Ryu ran across the forest, his eyes could glance back and forth looking for somewhere to hide and plan properly on a way to defeat the vulture or at least escape from it. However, much to his demise, the trees and vegetation were slowly and progressively becoming fewer. Leaving him more and more in the open.
The vulture soon started licking its lips as it noticed this, knowing that this meant that swooping down at him and killing Ryu could become a lot easier now, without the many trees hindering him.
-Gyaooooo!!!-
As it let out an enormous howl that resounded all around the area, suddenly much to the vulture's surprise, Ryu stopped running and turned to look back at it with a fierce expression on its face.
"This is the last thing I can do with the Ki I have left..."
-Gyao?-
"Taiyoken!"
-Bang!!!-
Immediately, the vulture closed its eyes and lost control over its flight, rapidly crashing against the ground without being able to do anything, and releasing a pained howl that echoed all across the jungle.
-Gyaaoooooooo!!!-
-Boooom!!-
The vulture was incredibly confused, from one moment to another, the prey that it had been eyeing from a while ago turned into an enormously dazzling beam of light that burned its irises and made it go completely blind. He could not understand how such a thing could happen, and the fact that it couldn't see its surroundings was also making it a lot more nervous, after all, not being able to see any longer meant certain death in the jungle, whether the vulture liked it or not.
-Gyaooooo!!-
Ryu wasn't sitting idly while this happened, his eyes, which were looking directly at the maddened vulture with a slightly mocking tone in them, soon closed before he tensed up all his muscles.
'Let's just hope that my calculations aren't wrong...'
Ryu let out a short sigh before he stood upright and lifted both of his fists upward while looking down seemingly in concentration. A drop of sweat could be seen going down his face as the time left for the vulture to recover its eyesight was going down, he needed to act fast or he would die.
"Huuuuh..."
-Hup!!-
From one moment to another, an incredibly thick aura started surrounding his body, as the muscles of all his body started bulging out a lot. His skinny body, which only had a slight amount of muscles due to the training he had done these past days, grew in size and acquired an enormous musculature compared to before, just like the special technique of master Roshi, but a lot less bulky and much more human in anatomy standards.
"Hnrghh...!"
A low grunt could be heard coming from Ryu while he stood up idly in the same place, seemingly waiting for something.
His eyes were getting reddish, as his technique was seemingly not coming without pain. However, compared to before, the aura around him had turned a lot more violent and domineering.
He had achieved this technique during his training at the cave, but it wasn't really the most practical one because of the many downsides it had in comparison to the advantages it provided.
First, the technique caused the body to feel like each muscle was burning because of his inexpertness in accumulating ki on his body and using it to enhance himself, making it unbearable after a few seconds of use, and even dangerous if it got used for too much time. He personally didn't know what might happen if he used it for more than one minute, but it could certainly paint the whole area red, and not with his enemy's blood.
The second disadvantage was the inability to use ki attacks as all his ki was currently improving the psyche of his body. Roshi could still fire Ki blasts like the kame-hame-ha and fight hand to hand without a problem when he used this technique, and, as far as he could remember, Roshi could get an x1.5 multiplier on his power level when he used this technique, all at the cost of the speed and the agility of his body of course. He, on the other hand, could also get something around an x1.5 multiplier on his power level, but at the cost of only acquiring more physical strength, and only being able to last a few seconds at it.
In summary, it was a pretty shitty technique in a fight, and in most situations as well. However, much to his fortune, this was the perfect opportunity for using it.
His opponent was blinded, it couldn't use advanced martial arts to dodge his attacks as it was only an animal in the end, and it was fricking enormous so hitting it precisely could not be a problem.
As his eyes darted to look at his power level for one last time, his resolve strengthened to its limit and he prepared himself for his first and probably only attack towards the vulture.
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≡[System bearer: Ryu Kain]
-Power Level: 147 (+49) [Temporary]
-Z Points: 15
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"Let's just hope this is enough...!"
Ryu's fist suddenly started glowing with a ferocious red aura, before he then kicked the ground below him and created an enormous explosion of dust that sent him flying towards the vulture.
'Just like a stone can kill a human if hit in the right place...'
As if time had slowed down, Ryu's mind started working at an incredible speed. Something that he hadn't noticed about his technique while practicing at the cave, was that it not only enhanced his muscles but his whole body instead, making his brain much faster than before, even if he wasn't aware of it.
He hadn't noticed it until now because the technique could only be used for a few seconds, and he haven't had time to notice it during its short time, and because he wasn't in a heightened state like right now, were coupled with the adrenaline running across his body, he was more focused than ever. Even finding the weak point of the vulture seemed nothing but a child's game to him now.
'... I can kill this monster if I hit the right place...!'
-Boooom!!!-
Like a shooting star, Ryu's body moved frighteningly fast towards the vulture. His body was surrounded by the white aura even at that moment, leaving a trail similar to that of a comet, and his fist seemed to be gaining even more strength as time passed with him not hitting something.
-Gyaoooooooo!!!-
-Booooom!!!!-
In just the span of a second, Ryu's glowing body clashed against the enormous body of the vulture and created an enormous shockwave that echoed to the skies. Blood spilled out of the vulture's beak, as its eyes went completely white while another gush of blood spilled out from somewhere else... most specifically, the area where its heart was.
-Thud!-
Bouncing away from the vulture's enormous body, Ryu's limp body fell heavily to the ground with a raspy sound and stopped moving immediately after that, his eyes staring blankly at the white sky that hovered above him without any sign of the previous struggle he had done to survive. Just calmly staring at the sky without seemingly thinking about anything.
It wasn't only after a minute or so passed, that Ryu finally woke up from his trance and started looking around frantically.
It was only when he saw the giant vulture lying immobile in the ground that he finally relaxed a little bit.
'Did I kill it?'
Ryu glanced at the previous mission with a hesitant gaze, and after seeing that it hadn't been completed even after his attack, he deduced that the vulture was still alive, but probably unconscious for the moment.
'So I didn't kill it... Well, I still can escape though, I can move, unlike this guy who is still unconscious...'
Ryu poured a small amount of healing liquid over all his body before he then finally stood up and started walking away in a hurry, worried that the monster might wake up at any moment.
The hit in the heart seemed to have caused it a lot of damage, however, because the monster surpassed him by two hundred points of power level, he wasn't so sure whether his attack had been as effective as he expected.
Maybe it was only enough to make it go unconscious for a moment, and it would soon wake up completely unscathed from his attack. That's why he didn't want to be there when that happened.
-Gyaooo...-
Unfortunately for him, the time left for that had already passed.
The vulture had already stood up when he turned around. It was eyeing him with the same eyes of a predator that finally caught its prey, a predator ready to fill its belly.
"Shit... I don't think I can run away for long in my current state..."
Ryu couldn't help but curse seeing that his alternatives for surviving had run out.
-Thomp!-
-Thomp!-
-Thomp!-
The vulture was rapidly approaching Ryu, each of its steps making the earth tremble and Ryu's heart shrink in dread.
'What can I do... What is left for me to do? I don't know any technique for defending myself, and I don't even have ki left for betting everything I have on whether I can be able to attack this guy with Ki or not... Shit, I can't even think straight, why the fuck is the fucking day so hot? My mind is getting dizzy...'
Ryu was gasping heavily because of the exhaustion and the lack of hydration on his body, this, coupled with the rather high temperature of the day was making his eyes get blurry and his whole breath turn haggard.
It was rather obvious why this was happening now, as before, thanks to the many trees providing shadow and protecting him from the powerful sun rays, he hadn't noticed how hot the day was. However, now that there were almost no trees in the surroundings, the side effects of such insolation were beginning to appear.
"Huh...?"
Suddenly, something changed within Ryu's mind, as his eyes widened seemingly realizing something.
"Where are the trees? No, where's the whole jungle that was surrounding me while I escaped?"
Looking around in a hurry, Ryu's eyes woke up from the dizziness from before, as his mind started to work as fast as it could.
'How many kilometers did I run while escaping...? The fact that there are almost no trees means...'
Finally, just as the vulture was about to reach him, Ryu's eyes moved specifically to the horizon, as a smile blossomed on his face at the last moment.
'That's...!'
At the horizon, an enormous desert that seemed to extend to the infinite could be seen.
'...The end of the jungle.'
-Gyaooooooo!!!-
The vulture rapidly attacked the dazed Ryu and destroyed a pretty big area just using his beak, trying to eat him whole in one go.
-Gyao?-
However, it soon realized that the human had once again run away, making his head be filled with rage. Fortunately for it, its prey seemed to have slowed down a lot more compared to before, if it tried a little bit, it could be able to catch up with him and hunt him for once and for all.
-Thomp!-
-Thomp!-
-Thomp!-
Ryu was running away in his extremely weakened state, his speed was just barely above that of a normal human, and it couldn't be a surprise for the monster to eat him at any second now. However, none of this seemed to be bothering the youth's mind, as his eyes were only focused on one thing.
'I need to reach it... The end of the jungle!'
His mind couldn't think of anything else, it was, after all, his last hope.
-Thomp!-
-Thomp!-
-Thomp!-
However, in just one moment the vulture had already caught up to him, but even then, he continued running... Even if his muscles burned more than ever, or if his throat felt like it was being pierced by a thousand knives every time he breathed, Ryu continued running.
'... Only then... I can survive'
-Gyaooooooo!!!!-
With one enormous roar, the vulture moved its head towards Ryu at an enormous speed, its eyes filled with anger and irritation.
-Boooom!!!-
As soon as the beak made contact with the ground, an enormous dust cloud erected from the ground, and the whole area where Ryu had been running was destroyed.
-Sssss...-
The place was soon filled with silence, as the vulture licked its beak with a satisfied expression on its face. A little tint of blood could be seen in the corner of the vulture's beak, as it seemed to be eating something with a satisfied expression on its face.
It finally had killed its prey.
-Tack-tack-tack-tack-tack!-
Or so it thought.
Soon its eyes opened wide as it saw the determined figure of Ryu still running towards the desert in the distance, the only difference from before... Was that he had lost one arm, and blood could be seen oozing from his amputated limb.
But even then, Ryu's stubbornness stood above all and did not allow him to stop.
-Gyaooooo!-
The vulture growled in irritation and prepared to run towards its prey once again.
However, before the vulture could do anything else, suddenly Ryu stopped running and turned around to face the vulture. This time, however, his eyes had no longer any fear in them.
In the corners of Ryu's vision, two different translucent screens could be seen, each of them making Ryu's eyes burn with a confident light even further.
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≡[You completed the Main Quest‼]
▸Survive and escape the jungle without dying!
[Rewards for completing the quest successfully:]
▸+100 Power level.
▸+2500 Z points.
▸Unlock [Martial arts] basic knowledge.
▸Unlock [Magical arts] basic knowledge.
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≡[New Side Quest‼]
▸The monster in front of you has been hunting you for quite a while... It's time for payback! Kill the monster in front of you and successfully survive once again!
[Rewards for completing the quest successfully:]
▸+800 Ƶ Points.
▸ Receive the "Intimidation[★☆☆☆☆☆☆]" Skill.
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Just like before when he had received the +20 power level reward from the system when he completed his first mission, Ryu's body was suddenly filled with an invigorating feeling, as his body felt completely renewed, even if he was still lacking an arm.
Suddenly twice his power level would surely make him feel like that, after all.
"I'll fucking kill you!!!"
Like a savage beast who had been freed from its restrictions, the now stronger Ryu launched himself towards the vulture, and soon, another fight started.
Who would be the one to win in the end? Discover it in the next episode! Though I guess you can already guess... He is still the protagonist in the end.
...
-End of the Chapter-
A/N: This is Ryu's new status by the end of the chapter.
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≡[System bearer: Ryu Kain]
-Power Level: 199
-Z Points: 2515
≡[Abilities]
-Ki mastery(F): 86%
-Martial arts (-): 0%
-Magical arts (-) 0%
≡[Skills]
▷Journey of the traveler (Passive)
▸Fate will bend against you.
▷Power level scan (Active)
▸Scans the power level of any being that is within your eyesight. Please note that Gods cannot be scanned unless the host possesses divine Ki.
▷Taiyoken/Solar Flare (Active)
▸Emits an incredibly dazzling beam of light that can blind the enemy due to its intensity.
[Advice: Please note that if the user emits the Taiyoken from a part of the body that is in the user's field of view, it is very probable that the user will be blinded too.]
≡[Inventory]
▸Bottle of enhanced medicinal liquid. [37% left]
▸Nutritional paste [1]
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That's all for today guys... I have university tomorrow.
Very good