LIGHT NOVEL Chapter 19: Chapter 19
I was so terrified of the big black centipede. The octopus-like tentacles surrounded my hand, and I jumped off the tree. The water extended to another tree and wrapped around it, pulling me and allowing me to swing to another tree. I gave a side glance in mid-air.
The giant insect crushed the tree and continued after me.
Looking at its speed, I couldn't outrun it. Hiding deep in the ground wouldn't work. Even if I ran to the river, it would still be a tough opponent and would be able to catch up to me.
In this case, I could only think of one solution: shift its attention to something else before it could catch up to me.
And I did.
Those poor giant giraffes that were eating peacefully found me swinging and slipping between their legs. They looked at me confused, but they soon met up with the insect. Upon crashing into them, the insect got angry at the giraffes. The centipede surrounded its body and crushed them before beginning to eat.
I didn't stay to watch the show.
I then swung away.
-x-X-x-
I broke two eggs over the steamed cabbage, added some oil, and mixed the ingredients in the pan.
'Forget being an enemy of the Fire Nation; there are more scary things in life,' I thought to myself.
In my whole life, I never knew that you could actually exert your muscles beyond failure. I had sprinted—not just run—but sprinted out of the forest as soon as I had a chance, and I managed to make it back to the village in an hour and a half. Chi bending had helped me a lot to reduce the time it took to escape.
And just to make sure the bizarre insect didn't have the chance to catch up to me thanks to some weirdly powerful sense of smell, I took a quick shower and changed my clothes midway.
'I'm seriously going to be traumatized at this rate.' I took the pan off the fire and sat down to eat with chopsticks.
I was in the open air, enjoying the food I had made, but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't get the food into my mouth as my hand kept shaking.
You may think I'm a coward, and you might be right. But in my defense, that centipede was 20 meters long.
Had this been my previous life, if I'd faced a 50 cm long one, the first thing I would've done would be calling a therapist after managing to escape.
"You look quite distressed. Try drinking this." Haru came and stood next to me, handing me a small bottle of cow's milk. "Where have you been?"
"I've been…" I decided to lie. "Doing workouts. To build strength, you know."
"That's why you're cooking cabbage?" He nodded.
I gave him a side glance. There's no way one would build muscles by eating cabbages. Sure, the eggs and other added ingredients help increase the total protein consumed for the day, but if one wanted to build muscles, going for the South Pole or North Pole diet would be the aim. I was quite muscular myself.
"Who told you that?" I asked him.
"Cai," replied Haru. "He said hard work and cabbage are the way." He picked up chopsticks and joined me.
"And you believed him?" I asked.
"Yes. I mean, look at you," he replied. "I bought around four of them. He also said they'll help my mom recover her health."
Suddenly, the cabbage tasted less appealing.
'Seriously. Lying to sell your cabbage, I can understand that. But using the fact that someone's mom is ill to sell them stuff? That's really low.' I stopped eating. 'Why are these retail merchants full of lies? Well, I guess his beef with the Avatar was just a matter of karma.'
I asked, "Did a doctor visit her?"
"Doctor? You mean a physician," he said.
That was the name of the doctor in this world, I guess.
"Yes," I nodded.
"He prescribed a set of medicine, but because of the high taxes imposed on us by the Fire Nation, we couldn't afford it," he said. "I'm trying to hold on with medical herbs."
"That's rough, buddy," I said. "Sorry to hear that."
"It's okay. With your rent and some side work, I'll be able to afford it soon," he said. "Just don't move to another motel."
"Good luck with that," I said.
-x-X-x-
Early at dawn, I had finished emptying my storage of clothes and food and locked it in my room. I had filled about four water barrels and placed them along with a few weapons.
'I guess I'm ready to go now,' I thought.
[Waterbending +100 exp]
[Waterbending +100 exp]
[Waterbending +100 exp]
I was standing on one bed, water surrounding my hand as it moved right and left over the forehead of an old, white-haired woman. Next to me, Haru was sleeping, his head on the bed.
Healing was a skill I had acquired after my waterbending had reached the 8th level.
If I recall correctly, the way my waterbending started leveling up was by doing simple tricks. After a few levels, those simple tricks wouldn't provide much experience, and I would have to do more complicated things.
'Healing the ill is the way from now on. Or complicated combat,' I thought to myself.
Looking at Haru's mom, I didn't think I was healing her. All I did was relieve her symptoms. She would need rest, medicine, and plenty of food.
Maybe when my waterbending leveled up, I would be able to perform higher-level healing.
After I was done, I headed to the forest.
I knew that it was quite a suicidal decision to return there after facing that large monster.
But since I had managed to escape, I thought I might be able to do it again.
I knew the way to escape, and I was willing to put everything I had into getting stronger.
I knew what triggered that insect. It was the smell of the dead corpse that made it come. So, after hunting, I would have to move on quickly.
And this time, I was better prepared than last time. I had more water in my storage.
-x-X-x-
I stood in front of the large forest, Chi boosting my body as I moved around. I encountered different species apart from the long-necked wolves—a relatively smaller but bulkier, cat-like predator.
I engaged in a fight with one of them, and they were much quicker than the wolves. I couldn't escape or outrun it, even with Chi boosting. In fact, I had to use an entire barrel of water to win. First, I used the water to create a defensive layer. When the animal tried to break through, I froze it and decapitated it.
[Killing Large Leopard.]
[+4200 accumulated experience]
[Waterbending +500 exp]
[Freeze +200 exp]
The leopard originally gave 3000 experience points, but thanks to my title, I earned 4200 accumulated experience.
That was a massive gain for today, and I decided to call it a day before some predator smelled the blood.
I decided to move on to a different hunting spot.
And so, I did.
I continued moving carefully for a couple of hours. By "carefully," I mean hanging from one tree to another, keeping an eye out for any dangerous centipedes.
Eventually, I managed to make it back alive. I'd slaughtered a few wolves, but I didn't encounter more cat-like predators. One thing I noticed was that the stronger the animals I hunted, the more experience they provided.
I was quite curious about that insect—the one freezing didn't affect. I wondered how much experience it could provide me.
[Freeze leveled up to 8]
[Waterbending - Level 8 (7000/16000)]
[- Skill Trees -]
Waterbending: Level 8
Chi Bending: Level 7
[- Skills -]
Hunting: Level 8
Fishing: Level 4
Freeze: Level 8
[Titles: (1/1) The Beasts Hunter]
[Accumulated experience: 18200]
Not a bad gain for a peaceful hunting day. I could level up my waterbending or any other skill I desired.
Since my ultimate goal was to obtain the power to blood bend, I decided to level up waterbending. I couldn't believe I'd managed to gather the required 16,000 experience points—7000 through hard work and 9000 through sheer effort.
"Seriously. Getting from level eight to nine requires more work than getting from one to eight. The growth rate must be exponential—or else I'll demand to return to my previous life," I muttered as I opened the system.
[Waterbending leveled up to 9 (0/30000)]
[All skills under the skill tree upgraded.]
A surge of information invaded my brain. New movements and techniques appeared before my eyes.
I quickly summoned a barrel and drew water from it.
I extended my arms to the side, and two water tentacles formed, coiling around my shoulders.
I noticed I could now move the tentacles independently with just slight muscle twitches.
I turned to a nearby tree and waved one of the tentacles like a whip. From its end, pellets of water flew out, transforming into shards of ice that pierced through the bark.
'Okay. Harder to level up, but definitely rewarding.'
I experimented more with my waterbending. My ability to shape and manipulate water had greatly improved. I could now transform the tentacle ends into sharp ice blades, much sharper than at the previous level.
Satisfied with my progress, I headed back to the village.
I thought to myself that if the firebender didn't wake up today, I'd have more time to grow stronger tomorrow.
On the way, I ran into Cai. I shot him a glare, unable to hide my growing annoyance with him.
His eyes widened as he approached me, saying, "Where have you been? I've been looking for you all day."
"Why?" I asked coldly.
"You know the kind guy who helped us drag the cart?" he asked.
"Yes," I replied. "The one you scammed by saying cabbage heals the sick."
"I didn't scam him," Cai retorted. "His mom could walk out of the house! He's been telling everyone it's thanks to the cabbage, and my sales have increased."
I felt my lips twitch in frustration, veins pulsing on my forehead.
Did he seriously start believing his own lies?
'Okay. Forget about the Avatar. I'm going to wreck your carriage myself,' I thought.
"Anyway, poor Haru," Cai continued sympathetically. "He saved an elder from the village, but the elder snitched on him for pocket money. Now Haru is being taken to jail. And because he didn't turn himself in earlier, they plan to execute him this weekend to make an example out of those who hide their power."