A strong wind swept across the land, and the sky of Icolis looked slightly hazy. Jun stood still for a moment and took a deep breath. Trying to copy wings had drained most of his energy, and he still couldn't maintain proper balance. He accepted the obvious truth flying was not practical for him yet.
"I need to focus on something else for now," he murmured quietly to himself.
Jun shifted his entire attention to the books and notes that described techniques for making the body flexible, fast, and stable. With a mimic ability like his, body control was essential. Without it, using powers could easily become dangerous even for himself.
He continued practicing while moving. Sometimes he compressed his muscles, sometimes he controlled his breathing patterns. At times he tried to increase his speed, and at other times he worked on maintaining balance.
Three days passed like this. For three days, Jun kept traveling and training constantly. Occasionally he would spot aliens in the distance but never found the right opportunity to engage them. Sometimes the terrain became so rough that even walking was difficult.
On the fourth morning, while passing through a rocky region, Jun suddenly noticed something unusual. In an open space ahead of him, two large aliens were fighting.
Jun immediately stopped. Quietly, he moved behind some large stones and began observing. One of the aliens resembled a giant eagle. It had massive wings, and every attack carried tremendous speed and force.
The other alien looked like a turtle. Its body was heavy and shield-like. It had no wings, but its defense was incredibly strong so strong that many of the eagle's attacks barely affected it. Jun watched carefully. From the looks of it, the battle had already been going on for quite some time.
The eagle's attacks were extremely dangerous. But the turtle's defense resembled a fortress. The drawbacks were obvious. The turtle could not fly. And the eagle had poor defensive capability. Jun sat quietly behind the rocks, observing everything.
"Interesting…" he thought.
Time passed. The fight was gradually slowing down. The turtle seemed somewhat weakened but was still standing. Jun's mind began forming a plan,"If I can finish either of them, I might gain a powerful ability."
However, attacking both at once would be suicide. Jun was still planning when suddenly the eagle let out a sharp cry and flew into the sky. Jun was startled,"What?"
He looked up. And then he saw something else. A massive dragon-like alien had appeared in the sky and was chasing the eagle. The dragon was so enormous that Jun felt as if three football stadiums were flying together in the air.
Its wings were so large that they seemed to cover a portion of the sky itself. For a few seconds, Jun was completely stunned.
"Creatures like that… exist here too…"
Both the dragon and the eagle soon disappeared into the distance. Now only the turtle-type alien remained on the ground. An idea instantly formed in Jun's mind.
"This is my chance."
First, Jun copied the turtle's defensive ability. His body immediately felt heavier and far more resistant. Then he activated his Tentacle Ant ability. A faint poisonous secretion began forming beneath his nails.
Slowly and cautiously, Jun started approaching the turtle. The turtle had already been weakened by the eagle's earlier attacks. But its defense was still strong. Jun stayed patient. He waited for the perfect moment.
Then it happened. For a brief second, the turtle exposed its head. Jun immediately copied the eagle's speed. His movement accelerated rapidly but doing so forced him to drop the turtle's defensive ability.
A sharp scratch. Through that small cut, the poison entered the turtle's body. The moment the attack landed, Jun quickly retreated and hid at a distance. Now all he could do was wait.
The day slowly progressed. For a while, the turtle remained stable. Then its body began reacting. The poison had started working. By noon, the turtle grew restless. By evening, it began writhing in pain. Its body slowly turned dark violet. Jun watched everything from afar.
Finally, after some time, the turtle stopped moving. At that exact moment, a virtual card flashed in front of Jun.
Alien Type: Stone Turtle-Eliminated
Reward: Defense Power Acquired
Additional Note: You may consume its meat to gain points. Its hard shell can also be used to craft powerful weapons.
A faint smile appeared on Jun's face,"It's really nice..."
But there was a problem. He didn't know how to remove the poison from the turtle's body. If he consumed the meat directly, the poison might be dangerous for him as well. Jun thought for a moment. Then he carefully packed the turtle's body into his bag.
"I'll deal with it later."
After that, he resumed his journey. Night slowly descended upon Icolis. After walking for some time, Jun reached a rocky region where deep cracks had formed between massive stones. He found a relatively safe spot there and sat down.
In morning around 1:50 AM. Jun ate a little bread, checked his gear, and then lay down inside a narrow rock crevice to sleep. A few hours later, a strange sound woke him up. Jun immediately sat upright. Slowly, he peeked his head outside the crack. And what he saw in front of him left him completely stunned.