Setting aside the material rewards, Eishi focused his attention on the new Buffs. The newfound power coursing through his body told something.
[Clear Sky (SSS)]
Basic Buff: Increases the strength attribute by 300%.
Group Buff: Upon entering a fatally wounded state, instantly recover from all injuries. Limited to once a day.
'Another 300% increase… Does the system have a misconception on what 'clear sky' is?'
Though he couldn't understand why it gave him a 300% increase, it had completely filled in his physical body's weakest aspect. His bones and muscles became extremely tough—far surpassing tempered steel. A single punch could truly clear the sky, much less cause a building to collapse.
He looked at his status panel and saw his crazy changes.
[Strength: 2,649 (8,742)]
'If I had this kind of strength when I faced that huge whale, it wouldn't have taken twelve hours.'
Strength governs the power to be exerted; agility the overall coordination of one's body; and constitution the resilience and recovery. Having greater strength meant he could exert greater force. This Buff completely removed his 'weakness' in that regard.
'If I could have a Buff especially for the spirit attribute…'
That would seal the deal for Eishi. Spirit attribute is the most crucial for him as of now. His superpower depends on it. He could be physically weak, but his spirit attribute should never be insufficient.
Pushing these thoughts aside, he continued examining his rewards.
[Lord Debuffer (SSS)]
Basic Buff: Increases mental resilience by 300%.
Group Buff: Every attack dealt weakens the other party. The individual weakening scales on level differences, up to 50%.
The second Buff silenced Eishi for ten seconds.
'Weakening enemies by half..?'
Each of his Buffs are rated SSS, mainly due to his criteria of confidantes. He didn't want to choose someone lower than SSS. Nevertheless, there are differences in the Buffs' effects. Some felt lackluster and quite underwhelming for him, while there are others that are practically life-changing. The [Absolute Shield] Buff, for instance, saved his life from that huge whale. Had it not blocked the whale's attack, there is a huge chance Eishi would have died then and there. There is a small chance of him triggering time stop first, but it all depended on his luck.
The [Lord Debuffer] directly weakened his enemies by 50%. More importantly, it is a group buff!
'Time stop… and then this…'
For Eishi who has the time stop hack, [Lord Debuffer] is simply the best buff that complemented it. He took twelve hours of unceasing hacking and slashing to tear the city-sized seventh-order whale apart. He aimed at its vital points—the weakest parts of its body—to kill it cleanly. It was a challenge to his spirit and physique combined.
If, in one instance, his time stop failed for a few seconds, there was no telling what would have happened. The whale's insane recovery rate might have acted and dealt with its wounds. It could have also escaped using its S-rated talent, [Teleportation]. Eishi would have been helpless by then, causing him to have a seventh-order enemy hiding in the dark.
'Six hours… no, maybe even two hours. I could have killed it with that time.'
A surge of fighting spirit rose from his chest. The heat coursing through his body stimulated his suppressed hormones and the likes. It was also then did he realize he was still pinned down by five beautiful women.
The heat gradually made its way to his flesh rod. It stood erect, weakly slapping onto Mahiru's small and tender buttocks.
'I can't move…'
The more he thought about it, the more he felt the oddity in his body. His cheeks were wet. His hands and feet were sticky. The entire room smelled of iron and the decadent scent of sexual fluids combining. Luckily, the bed he slept on was the special seventh-rank bed, Joyful Union Jade Bed. It didn't look different from any other bed, but it possessed a unique trait of being able to strengthen both parties while having sex. It was similar to his [Romantic Link] Buff in this regard, but several times stronger.
He looked at his attributes and found they increased by around thirty each. Back then, increasing his attributes by single-digit points was hard enough. It spoke volumes of the bed's capabilities… and the crazy things that happened while he was asleep.
'Just what happened in my sleep?'
Eishi wouldn't have been this wild while he was awake. The farthest he went to were two at the same time, and that was the 'open-minded' Saeko and the 'perverted' Megumi. It just so happened that their personalities matched each other, making them open to that kind of thing.
Looking at the sleeping women around him, Eishi could only sigh. He saw through their fatigue. The thought of being 'taken advantage' was enough to rile him up—to administer "punishments"—but he held back. He knew everyone faced great dangers. He was the one who asked them to train in combat. He was lucky to have [Absolute Shield], lest he might have felt immense guilt when something dire happens to one of them.
In short, this 'time' could be considered as their reward.
'Since I can't stand…'
He continued checking his rewards. There were two physical rewards: Starfall Fists and Stellar Centrifuge. Eishi collected both of them with a thought, reappearing at his spatial backpack.
The Starfall Fists are a pair of black cloth-like gauntlets. A rhombus-shaped silver was placed on each of its knuckles along with silver spikes at the back of his palm.
[Starfall Fists (Seventh-Rank)]
Details: A pair of gauntlets forged from extraterrestrial meteorites. Compounded by a special forging technique, it is extremely durable, far exceeding its rank's durability. Self-repairing capabilities are among one of the meteorites' nature.
The system's appraisal was as brief as it could ever be. Oftentimes, it required Eishi to explore more about it.
'Seventh Rank…'
Recalling the whale's might, it showed capabilities of being able to flatten an entire major city at will. Its full strength wasn't limited to cities, but perhaps, regions!
'If it possessed an area-wide attack instead of [Teleportation]...'
Eishi worried at first, but as he thought of it, the whale's danger actually grew weaker. Its 'sneak attack' was what got Eishi. It never appeared on his field of vision, hence his [Lucky Eyes] failed him. There are a dozen ways he could have reacted had its attack not been a sneak attack.
'It should be the strongest aquatic lifeform… it should be.'
The next item entered Eishi's eyes. It was a set of very high-end apparatuses, the kind used for advanced chemical research and the likes. It took the space of an entire room, with a manual for it nearby.
[Stellar Centrifuge (Seventh-Rank)]
Details: A specialized set of tools designed to extract, synthesize, and create solutions using evolved beast blood, exotic liquids, and so on.
Its description was shorter than the Starfall Fists. Eishi paused on the words 'evolved beast blood'.
'Evolved beasts…'
He recalled the sudden 'level-ups' he obtained after "showering" on the whale's blood for quite some time. He hadn't noticed it when he was extremely tired, but when he recovered, he noticed his strength had grown.
'It's even better than mutated zombie crystals.'
They had tried to absorb higher-rated zombie crystals to level-up once, creating a zombie categorized at the fifth-order before slaying it. Unfortunately, 'drawing' in the 'genetic energy' contained within its crystals proved to be tedious. It took them a dozen minutes to absorb one. Its efficiency could not compare to the fruits' nigh-instantaneous improvements.
The so-called "evolved beast blood" Eishi had encountered possessed the potency of high-level zombie crystals and the efficiency of the evolution fruits.
How could he not be excited?
He inadvertently looked at the pink-haired woman on his right.
'Looks like I will have a gift to give her later…'
While he was thinking about his future plans, a sudden thud resounded onto the door.
Thud-!
The doorknob on the door fell apart. Eishi's eyes shot straight to the door and saw Haruno's unsettled look. The moment she saw the entire mess in his bed, her face turned blank. She regained her composure after a few seconds, maintaining a flat look now.
"They managed to make fourth-rank fruits."
"..!"
Eishi's eyes widened in shock. He had recalled what he had forgotten until now!
"How long did I remain unconscious?" He asked.
"Two days."
"Two days…"
Yokohama wasn't the only city that suffered from the aquatic animals' attacks; the entire world did. Eishi's strength as a humanoid nuke turned Yokohama into the safest place on Earth. Coupled with the resources he distributed, they were able to successfully defend the city.
In this regard, he treated Yokohama as his main base. The level of treatment Tokyo received was a notch lower than it. After all, Eishi has the city hall's leader as his father-in-law. Their bond is greater than Motoi's promises.
"Call them back. I am going."
*****
Splat-!
Psshk-!
Thud-!
…
A man walked through a horde of aquatic lifeforms numbering in the dozens. The majority of them are at the first-order, with a select few at the second-order. One entity, a turtle more than a meter high, constantly emitted fluctuations at the third-order.
The moment they stepped within two meters from him, an invisible string severed their physical bodies into two. The cuts varied—horizontal, vertical, and diagonal. He waded on the water, its level reaching his knees. Blood spread over to his location, staining the translucent blue water with nothing but red.
Hgwo-!
Five seconds was all it took to kill the vast majority of the turtle's subordinates. Only then did it act.
Bam-!
Hum-!
The water around the man rippled. The gravity exerted upon him was intensified several times. The ground he stood on cracked, burying his feet slightly.
"Was that all?"
He no longer wasted any more time. An invisible spearhead appeared on the tip of his fingers. It took a split second for a thumb-sized hole to appear on the turtle's head. He had accurately struck at its weakest spot!
After confirming it was dead, the man's body trembled. He knelt onto the shore. His mind ached like nothing before. The intensity of his headache was so strong it brought him onto his knees.
"Ugh…"
The blood mixed with seawater rippled. The red color staining the sea gradually disappeared around him. In turn, his body recovered to 80% of his full state.
"It's so scary, but…"
Aki habitually fixed his glasses, only to realize he didn't wear one anymore. A hint of arrogance could be seen in his controlling eyes. It was deep-seated to his marrow. He could not revert to his former self now that he tasted how it was to sit at the top of the pyramid.
"Those things are scarier."
After being beaten black and blue by Eishi's valkyrie squad, Aki ditched Yokohama. He didn't remain there stupidly, waiting for a sliver of chance for revenge. Throughout his time as the 'boss' of that den of debauchery, he was able to raise his life level to first-order, four-stars. He relied on his SSS-rated talent, [Monarch of Space], to cross levels and slay those stronger than him in terms of attributes.
Unfortunately, he did not expect the entire Valkyrie Squad to be composed of third-order espers at minimum. Worse, they are all espers with SS-rated innate talent. Had he not chosen to escape the second he was struck, he would have died.
Considering the dangers to himself, Aki chose to move to another city. It was this decision to escape before Eishi returned to Yokohama that granted him another chance to live. Lest, he would have been already dead.
Aki thought it would be an easy escapade, more so when news of Eishi arriving in Tokyo was disseminated.
It was not.
Most of the national highways are clogged with cars. Even if there was a truck to ram it all, it would be worn down by continuous clashes. There were also mutated animals, zombies, and cunning humans. Aki went through a lot just to arrive at Kawasaki.
From there, he spent several days scouting its esper population. Compared to Yokohama, they are ridiculously weak and fragmented. He slowly integrated these esper groups and rebuilt his own den in the span of three days.
Just as he was feeling satisfied with it, that thing appeared. A massive whale akin to a flying city-sized airship. Even from an eleven kilometer distance, he could see it with his bare eyes.
Most shockingly, it disappeared in the span of a second. When he asked his subordinates to investigate what exactly happened, the Internet's declarations resurfaced.
Eishi killed the seventh-order whale all by himself.
Since then, any form of ambition to take revenge died in the cradle. The marine lifeforms he had killed just now couldn't give him an ounce of confidence to go against Eishi.
These weaker level monsters had already elevated his life level several times. What more if it was that overwhelmingly strong whale?
'No, I can't do it at all. Avoid Yokohama at all costs..!'
Just then, he sensed a noticeable 'tear' appear out of the surrounding space. Aki's eyes widened as his body felt inexplicably attracted towards this 'tear', or rather, the 'energy' seeping out of it.
'What kind of thing is this..?'