《Reincarnated, Now What? (ReWorked)》Chapter 7: Exploring The Swamp
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On the third day in this new world, Haruto found out that the toads released a unique toxin. However, their level was only at 2, so he had no idea how effective it was as his current body was too strong to be affected. Speaking of body, Haruto noticed each time he leveled up, his body miraculously reformed itself. He could feel his muscles becoming finer, his bones denser, and his vitality soaring. All the fatigue from yesterday was gone, and he could tell his grinding capacity had increased. Even his missing chunk of hair grew back.
I knew the gods would not forsake me; the upright gods of hard work have finally noticed my plight. That fiend sadist-sama is most likely an evil existence known throughout the universe. Hmph, since I have such blessings, I shall set my goal at 3000 slimes and 1000 toads. The closer I reach lvl 20, the higher the chances of me killing those super crocs. After Haruto's first day of genocide, the swamp had transformed from a green sludge to a blue-green hue. Perhaps when he destroyed all the slimes, the swamp would be prettier. Haruto doubted that as the slimes reproduced asexually, so unless he could kill them all in a short period, they would be here forever.
Haruto dunked his head into the swamp and gulped down some water to reinvigorate himself for the long day ahead of him. The sun had barely risen, and the moon was reluctant to leave, yes these were real gamer hours right here. After leveling up, Haruto's vision had skyrocketed. Regardless of day or night, he had a great view of his surroundings. While sleeping, the local slime population had risen back to 2/3rds, their original number. For some odd reason, they had moved closer to Haruto's living spot.
Because Haruto lacked the material needed to make a real tent, he just had a bunch of mud, rocks, and some vines to make a bed. If only I had a crafting table or a sheep, I could get some wool from. Actually, if only I was in creative mode, and could just plop a real living spot down, I'd even take a dirt hut right about now. Oh well, I don't plan to live here for long anyway, off to work, but first, I pray that sadist sama stubs his toe and hits his funny bone.
Pulling out his katana Haruto went hunting for this morning's breakfast. Three feet in front of him was a giant slime that had risen to level 2 after absorbing nearby slimes. A peculiar change, I doubt this is a game mechanic even the best VRMMO lacked the function for ai to level up without player intervention. I wonder what affects their evolution. Although Haruto skipped class quite often, he still had a good understanding of popular evolution theories, and evolving in one night was akin to slapping Charles Darwin in the face. This is a fake world, so I guess evolution would not be held to the same earth standards. Maybe after a couple of years, a super slime would evolve, and the whole swamp will become covered. Hm, but if that were the case, why isn't the swamp already covered? Oh well, anyway, I'm starving.
Thrusting his katana through a slime, Haruto watched as it split in half. Instead of cutting it again, Haruto began ferociously stuffing the first slime in my mouth. The new slime, perhaps containing some trace of intelligence, tried to hightail it from Haruto after seeing its brethren being consumed. Unfortunately, it slithered slower than a snail. After three mins of slurping, the first slime was finally gone, and the second one had barely made it six feet from him, but luckily for it, Haruto was full. Dragging his katana behind him and with slime juice smeared around his mouth, Haruto repeatedly bashed the slime until it stopped dividing and dissolved into the swamp.
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Haruto continued his campaign of slime annihilation for what felt like eons. The exp attained from his warpath was near zero, thankfully he had located a lot of toads, or the low exp return would become troublesome. Swinging his katana in the same fashion he had cut into the slime, Haruto felt a weird resistance to the toad. His katana slid on contact. To overcome the toad's slickness, Haruto was forced to use heavy attacks that drained his stamina quicker than a normal one. Fortunately for Haruto, the wondrous changes to his body included thick calluses. Or his hands would have been turned into mush from swinging my katana all yesterday.
After killing 10 toads, Haruto had finally gotten used to the force needed to cut them in half. More importantly, his food options had expanded by one. He chopped a leg off one of the toads pulling it near his nose. I smell a smell. A kind of smelly smell. A smelly smell that smells...smelly.
Haruto chomped into the delectable-smelling toad and started chewing. The texture was reminiscent of chicken, and the juices were very similar to sweet soy sauce. Man, who would have thought that these frogs would taste so good I can not be content with those worthless slimes when the glorious toads exist—Banzai toads Banzai sweet soy sauce Banzai. Not three minutes after finishing the delicious toad, Haruto's stomach felt like it got a punch from the north star.
Haruto collapsed into the water and started gulping it down to alleviate the pain, but it did little to help. His stomach was grumbling like an explosion was going off inside. He had lost the ability to even crawl away to his sleeping spot. Is this how I die? Haruto fainted due to the intense intestinal pains. When he woke up, the sun was already beginning to set, and nature was making an imminent call. It was hours before the deed was completed.
After the long, arduous task with an unsettling lack of toilet paper in existence, Haruto became re-energized. His stomach, after resting, had turned into an iron pit capable of consuming anything. He was positive that he could now eat those delicacies with no adverse effects. Haruto awkwardly pulled up his pants after completing the deed. He looked around to find an apparent lack of creatures in his immediate vicinity. He shuffled back to his resting spot to start tomorrow anew. After this bowel-changing experience, Haruto's level was 10 since he only killed 2000 slimes and 10 toads before becoming incapacitated.
The fourth day finally rolled around, and Haruto's daily routine of water drinking commenced. As if by habit, the first thing Haruto did was crack his neck, this caused a relaxing feeling to spread throughout his body. Stretching every bone in my body, popping noises could be heard. Haruto took a deep breath, and the air slid down his throat like pristine water and filled his lungs to their max. The freshly oxygenated blood began pumping. Haruto could feel the steady beat of his heart, and the refreshingness of this blood.
Though every day his body had felt more energetic, today, his body felt born again. It was in pristine condition as if it had never once been desecrated since birth. His mind was clearer than a window in a Windex commercial, which had heightened his awareness of these changes. Haruto took a look into the sky. Instead of being blinded by the sun's overbearing brilliance. In his eyes, the sun was no more than a jewel as no discomfort arose. Haruto allowed the sensation of tranquility to diffuse throughout his body. The feeling was so intoxicating he almost did not wish to lose it. For hours he stared into the sky lost in its glory, lost in his glory, and lost to the world.
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While Haruto was in this state, he unlocked the samurai's skill "superior Zen." As the trance-like experience heightened his mind, body, and spirit to a new level, and increased his mind's understanding of the two. Haruto's level began rising slowly but steadily. It was nighttime by the time he came back into reality. A slick breath pushed out black air filled with his soul and body's impurities, the next breath in awoke him. For a moment, Haruto's eyes were unclear and cloudy like the fog in the swamp. But soon, a clearness arose that pierced the night sky as if dominating and overlooking everything in its view.
Phew, that was something I feel like a different person, ah I forgot myself for a moment, focus, Haruto, come on. "Huh," with a look of pure ecstasy on his face, Haruto was greeted by his high new level. An aftershock of using the Zen for the first time happened as Haruto's soul, and body had been cleansed. However, the impurities within his mind were still present, flipping his mentality and clouding his judgment. A look of fervor appeared in Haruto's eyes, and he roared in satisfaction "Hahahahahahaha if I were the overlord of these lowly monsters, what am I now? Their god ahhh I now see why sadist sama torments me. It is indeed invigorating to be powerful, the feeling itself is pure ecstasy? How could I not bully the weak? Hahahahaha" after a few minutes of this deranged laughter another shift came into Haruto's muddy psyche.
"Wait, no, I'm no sadist-sama. I may be stronger, but this strength is not for bullying others. It's for protecting my happiness," Haruto spat with disgust, causing a black substance to be expelled, as the taste of giving praise to sadist sama sickened him to the core. That was close. I was almost blinded by the beauty of strength. How could I forget my woes against that fiend, there can be no more sadists in this universe, I must crush them and their god" Making this solemn vow Haruto tightened his fist resolutely, he could feel the vow being etched into his soul.
Haruto was sure that he would continuously grow more powerful. The issue to remain vigilant on, was the chance of losing himself before being able to destroy that accursed sadist. Following his strong promise, he felt mentally and spiritually exhausted. Very dizzy and tired, he collapsed onto his makeshift bed. His level after the exhaustive experience was 15 putting him on track to leaving this area very soon.
Haruto woke up refreshed and was ecstatic over his new level. He looked around the swamp and noticed the slime population had rebound due to his inactivity from yesterday. Turning to his immediate left, he saw two level 2 slime abnormalities resting beside him like loyal dogs. Haruto scratched his head, wondering what he should do with them. Being level 15, forget killing 1000 of these things to level up, 10,000 wouldn't move my exp bar one bit, so I guess I'll keep them as my pets. Perhaps a slime army would cause havoc in the other world. They reproduce asexually given a few years with enough resources there would be millions. I could flood my enemies with cannon-fodder like the Soviets of old.
Haruto patted one of the slimes to gauge their reaction. The pat caused the giant slime to squirm in joy. Happy to see them so docile, Haruto decided to begin his hunt for the delicious toad. Everywhere he searched, the slimes acted quite friendly. Some of the braver lvl 2 ones even came close to him and swam around his feet. Three hours later, he came upon two toads that were in the middle of scarfing down slimes. For some reason, anger rose in Haruto's gut, and he pounced forward, throwing two heavy punches.
The shockwaves from the punches destroyed the toads' internal organs on the spot. Haruto proudly fist-pumped, "Awesome," now even my heavy punches pack more power. I can only imagine the destruction my one-inch punch contains. "Hehe" laughing evilly, Haruto arrogantly approached the dead toads and chopped them into little pieces. Some slimes approached where he was, so he tossed a few pieces for them to eat. The slimes dashed quickly and caught the pieces mid-air, dissolving them in a hurry. I suppose it's not often they can consume a toad, usually, it must be the other way around. Before his eyes, the slime abnormalities leveled up to 3 after consuming the toad pieces.
Haruto giggled a bit after seeing this unforeseen outcome. Saying a prayer for sadist sama to stub his toe, he began enjoying the delicacy that was the toad. "Oh," Haruto accidentally moaned in pleasure. It appears the changes to my body have heightened even my taste buds as the flavors explode like fireworks and endorphins in my brain pump like crazy. I feel like a drug addict.
Haruto stuffed the rest of the toad pieces into his mouth, making it impossible for him to savor the flavor. But he could no longer control himself. Looking around like a starving wolf, his eyes constricted, and began searching far and wide for any traces of the almighty toad. But alas no matter where he looked, there were no toads in sight, "where o wherefore art thou toad, doth thy not know the woe I feel from not tasting thee." A deep sorrow penetrated Haruto's mind, forcing the extreme addict personality to commit seppuku, allowing his rational mind to retake power.
But his rational mind treated him no better than the addict one. It berated him for losing control, then admonished him for not finding one delicious toad. Haruto scoffed at his petty brain and began wandering aimlessly around for a few hours. After some time, his luck spiked as a lone lvl 3 skeleton was found. Seeming to notice Haruto's alpha predator aura, the skeleton scurried away.
Haruto leaned forward with his arms back and broke into a mad sprint like a lion in heat. The accursed race of skeletons had humiliated him for too long. Haruto roared at it as his blood heated up, "If you want to blame anyone. Blame that bag of bones who pranced around like some mid-tier boss and your distant cousin back in that cave for bullying me. I shall use all three of your skulls as cups!"
The lowly skeleton running faster than their bones could support ended up sliding face-first into the swamp's fog area.
An evil grin was etched on Haruto's face. Without much consideration, he foolishly leaped into the fog and on top of the bones. Haruto smugly whispered, "nothing personal kid," and tipped his helmet. Then he began bashing the skeleton's head in with his katana. He finely chopped the skeleton parts preserving the head, then using his hilt he ground the rest into dust. A lot of anger had unexpectedly been built up towards this thing's race. Haruto felt some pity for bullying such a low-level existence. Since this little guy was only level 3, I suppose its brother back there was no skeleton king, just some bones who got too big for their britches. Haruto began wiping the sweat off his forehead that had accumulated from the anger-stimulated pursuit. The sweat had started seeping into his eyes, blurring his vision.
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