Chapter 72: Solo Stomper (Patreon)

My voice falters mid-sentence and mid-step, slowing to a stop.

“Dammit!”

I wanted to hear them congratulate me!

The cooler environment wastes no time drying the sweat and blood on my body, which drip onto the floor.

The lack of interaction I expected throws my mind for a loop, leaving me confused by the newfound silence. 

Sure enough, the small, starry crystal ball on the pedestal in the middle of the room proves I’m back where I started.

I sigh.

System, hit me.

[   You have slain (II) Carish(lv. 13) - (lv. 19) x174   ]

[   Partial experience granted x348   ]

Did Yammie mess up the total? She said there were two-hundred.

Shrugging, I move on.

The soldiers probably killed the extras, and I didn’t notice.

[   Companionship Pact Leader(lv. 30) > (lv. 33)   ]

[    (II) High Human(lv. 15) > (lv. 18)  ]

Dang! Already?

It feels like I just got stasis, and now I’m about to get another skill.

I won’t be able to keep track of everything soon enough.

[   Danger Detection(lv. 0) > (lv. 1)   ]

[   High Human’s Musculature(lv. 5) > (lv. 7)   ]

[   Empower Suggest Companion(lv. 10) > (lv. 11)   ]

[   One Mind/Two Bodies(lv. 5) > (lv. 6)   ]

Yeah, the fight wasn’t all that hard.

There were tons of them, but they were all lower in level.

For once, I’m not killing enemies that are stronger than me.

And I destroyed them.

I don’t think I took more than a couple of scratches during the entire fight.

Satisfied, I read the last few messages.

[   Primary Objective: Completed   ]

[   Secondary Objective: Completed   ]

[   Title Gained: Solo Stomper   ]

[   (I) Solo Stomper   ]

[   Awarded to users who have completed 1 exfiltration situation during the solo phase of the system’s tutorial for new galaxies   ]

[   Grants a 1% increase to all stats   ]

All right! Nice!

One percent isn’t very much, but I would be an idiot to ignore an exponential increase.

Will it increase by one percent for every mission I complete?

If so, I gotta get into gear.

[   You have earned: 1 (I) Exfiltration Crate   ]

[   Accept / Bank   ]

Without an option to consolidate, I press accept.

Using my thoughts is more efficient, but there’s something about touching a magical floating screen that gives me a buzz of joy.

In system fashion, a black piece of cloth appears in the air, my hand snapping out to grab it.

Spreading it out presents a tight skin suit.

Identify Living Being

[   Durable Skin Mesh   ]

Eerily similar to the underwear.

My gaze pulls down.

Blood drips from my body and pools at my feet, spreading between the cracks in the floor.

Sucking air through my teeth, I quickly tip-toe my way out of the exfiltration room and down the hallway.

I push open the hobgoblin king’s quarters.

Last time I was here, I had a missing arm, and didn’t take much time to look around, but it’s actually quite nice.

The bloodstains leading to the dresser that had the potion on it are barely visible, disguised by the red carpet covering the room.

Red, red, red.

Every inch of the room is covered in red.

Red carpet, red bedsheets, red banners on the wall right next to the-

Bile rises up my throat.

How did I not notice that before?

Even though I’m dripping blood everywhere, I jog to the wall with my eye averted and pull the painting from the wall.

For once, my rising wisdom is a curse.

That sight is seared into my mind.

I rub my stomach as I nauseatingly walk to the one door in the room.

“Kevin, don’t feel sick”

Grabbing the doorknob, I close my eye and pray.

Please, please, please.

I open the door to reveal an advanced bathroom straight out of high society.

A toilet with controls, a shower with a colossal showerhead covering the ceiling, and a sink to the side.

Knowing the system, it was a coin flip for it to be this or a hole in the ground.

Thank God it wasn’t the latter.

Stepping into the shower while still wearing everything on, I turn on the water.

The wonderful freezing cold water falls on my face, washing away the grime I’ve built up for the past few weeks.

My armor comes off piece by piece, cleaning them with the cold water alongside my weapons.

After an hour, I step out.

The towels are soft, which is one thing I’m not a fan of.

My eye catches myself in the mirror.

The physique staring back at me is incredible.

A perfect eight-pack straight from social media, with sculpted muscles to match.

My beard is about an inch long, an incredible rate of growth for only three weeks.

Pale skin is replaced by a healthy tan.

Countless scars cover my body, from the bite I got on my leg when I first got here to the wound in my stomach from the hobgoblin king.

Badass.

Turning in different directions, I imitate bodybuilding poses.

Underneath, are the hidden changes from evolving and optimized anatomy.

Tiny bone plates are slightly visible under my skin, placing strange divots all over my body, most noticeably in my neck and abdomen.

Due to my muscles braiding around themselves, different muscle groups are blending together and becoming indiscernible from each other.

Multiple tendons spread noticeably near my elbows and knees.

Despite what the system says…

Every day, I become a little less human.

The reality sticks with me as I stare at the person in the mirror.

Somehow, that person is a stranger and me at the same time.

If Mom and Dad saw me, would they recognize me?

…

I flex to break the mood, but it’s only surface-level.

Tossing on my new underwear and skin mesh, I leave everything else in the shower to dry.

The mesh has no zipper or opening, so I stretch the neck to get it, hoping that it doesn’t rip.

Thankfully, it’s true to its description and is quite durable.

To my surprise, it retracts completely, no sign of how far I stretched it.

It leads from my upper neck down to my ankles, stopping halfway down my bicep.

I expected it to be uncomfortable, but it doesn’t pull when I stretch as I expect it to.

In fact, it’s the opposite.

A long walk takes me out of the king’s quarters and down to the kitchen.

I appreciate the lack of obstruction of the mesh with every step.

Loosely, I check a few of the windows and look down, but the hobgoblins haven’t reappeared.

Stepping into the kitchen, I search the cabinets for any snacks.

A colorful box with blocky, alien text and dancing rocks shows itself, so I grab it.

I sit at the dining table in the next room over and rip open the packaging.

The taste is…

Strange.

The most familiar thing is nutmeg, which I’ve had about three times in my life.

It’s sweet, crispy, and mixed with two other flavors which I can’t even begin to relate to.

While I eat, I reflect on my first mission.

Why the hell did the system put me inside the village!?

If it put me at the gate, or better yet, nearby, I could have been far more believable.

It was so hard to convince Kranon and Taroc I was there to help without an excuse as to why I didn’t go through the gate.

Also, I need to act with more authority.

Fourteen years of school and four more of college has turned me into someone who eagerly listens and follows the orders of others.

I’m not going to act like a king around strangers, but I at least need to act like I belong there.

Walking back to the kitchen, I return with another box of the alien cereal.

The taste is subtle, but it’s growing on me.

Probably what the creator intended.

System, status.

[Health: 1765(1688)]

[Mana: 970(730)]

[Stamina: 1745(1389)]

Nice!

Not sure if it’s because of stamina stomach, or my absurd endurance, but I’m still not feeling tired.

Mentally, I urge the system to show me more.

[Vitality: 121]

[Strength: 106]

[Agility: 87]

[Endurance: 131]

[Fortitude: 111]

[Intelligence: 34]

[Wisdom: 80]

[Perception: 73]

The numbers smother the feeling I’ve had since leaving the bathroom.

I may be changing, but it’s a good change.

And change is natural.

I’ll never be the person I once was, and that’s okay.

I’m something better now.

Someone better.

Stuffing the rest of the food into my mouth, I burst into motion.

My legs carry me through the corridors and back up to the king’s quarters.

Everything’s still drying in the bathroom, but I toss it on anyway.

The sweatpants, shirt, and underwear from before the integration are in tatters, having gone through countless battles.

Reluctantly, I throw them in a bin and put the armor on over the mesh.

The shirt was getting tight anyway.

For a second, I stop and look down.

The leather is pretty weak at this point.

Even the carishes were tearing through it like butter the few times they were able to reach me.

The bone plates did much more in that regard.

After a bit of debate, I take off all of the armor except for the chestplate, which holds all of my weapons.

Feeling exposed on the lower side, I pull my sweatpants back on, even if they’re torn all to hell.

With my absolutely disgraceful appearance, I walk back to the exfiltration room.

On the way, I knock on the royal mage’s door, thinking Brax is in there.

Only silence comes back.

He’s probably asleep.

I was only gone for a few hours since I last saw him.

As I pass by the treasure chest, I’m reminded of the world I now live in.

Gold, gems, accessories that would have made me rich enough to live like a king on earth.

It’s now nothing but a minor blockage in my path.

Blood solidifies in a puddle under the podium, which holds the orb of starry night in it.

I wonder if Brax knows any water magic?

Maybe he can pressure wash some of this out.

Carefully stepping over with my bare feet, I stand before the podium.

Excitement flows through my veins, and I calm it with a deep breath.

“You got this, Kevin.”

My hand touches the orb, and the tutorial vanishes in an instant.

Cool wind blows into my face, rustling my hair.

A wide, blue sky stretches into the horizon with a single orange sun casting a chilly warmth on my skin.

A calm sea sits several miles down past the railing.

The scent of salt enters my lungs.

Chime

A blue screen appears in my face, but I force it away and return to the view.

It’s… beautiful.

Wait, railing?

I look down, expecting to see stone and a cliff, but there’s wood instead.

Grabbing the railing, I peer over the edge, then turn around.

Three enormous sails stretch across equally massive masts. Behind them, there’s a raised cabin area with a door.

On each side, stairways lead to an area below deck.

People linger around the edges of the railing, watching the scenery just as I am.

This isn’t a cliff.

It’s a ship.

An airship.

A giggle bubbles out of my throat as a grin plasters itself on my face.

At the ship's pointed bow, I dash from railing to railing and look below, searching for some kind of support, but there’s nothing.

It really is flying by itself.

There has to be a power source or some kind of anti-gravity spell.

I turn to explore the back of the ship, but a gruff man blocks my path, making me stumble in place to avoid running into him.

A clean, grey uniform runs from his neck to his shoes.

Yellow, Blue and deep red run in three lines around his collar and cuffs, likely a part of the uniform.

His clean-shaven face and slight wrinkles display a man in his fifties who practices a poker face in the mirror every morning.

With an eyebrow raised and a stern expression, he looks me in the eye.

I was six-four before the integration, and the evolution added another half foot to my height, making me an anomaly.

And this guy reaches that height.

“Illioc silikel ninilrun struheberet?” He says gruffly, accusation clear in his voice.