When morning came along, not only had Orion's physique crossed a significant threshold, but the grade of his Runic Energy had also become two, unlocking a second slot for soulbound runes. Of course, he didn't have any runes for now, leaving those slots empty.
Name: Orion Vaelor
Exile Gear: Infinite Dream
Specialization: Creation
Origin Energy: 0 Units
Physique: 117.68
Matter Limit: 20 KG
Runic Energy: 117/117 Units [Grade II]
Slot I: Empty
Slot II: Empty
Techniques: (Expand)
Knowledge: (Expand)
After his physique stat went beyond a hundred points, Orion could feel the illusion of nigh-endless strength within him. If he hadn't trained himself to have precise control over his body, he might even have dented the wooden floor while taking steps. Of course, that feeling came more from the immense leap in his stats that he had received overnight instead of actual strength. With the physique stat scaling linearly, it wasn't nearly as overpowered as one might think when looking at the number.
After taking a few minutes to meditate and refamiliarize himself with his strength, he got up to his morning routine, brushing his teeth, taking a shit, and taking a cold shower, going so far as to add some ice in a bucket to help him deal with his ever-increasing libido problem that had become even more pronounced now.
I'm going to see how I work with zombies here, and if it is easy, I'll delay improving my physique and focus on some of that runic stuff. This is just morning wood. What if I get an erection in the middle of battle? I don't care about being seen, but it would definitely hinder my movements.
He already had in mind what he wanted next.
Knowledge: Compendium of Elemental Runes
Origin Energy Cost: 500 Units
This was going to actually teach him a large number of basic rank one runes that he could freely use and barely cost a fraction of the Aspected Runes that he kept seeing before.
Let's set a small goal to learn this by tonight. If I can do that, then I should be able to get some area-of-effect abilities going for me and start killing zombies much faster. I'm just not sure if that would allow the gear to harvest Origin Energy…
Having decided what he wanted to do for today, he went over to Mai's and knocked on her door, inviting her out. She was already prepared to leave, having taken care of her sister as she handed his katana to him, getting her sword back. Noticing the spotless kitchen, he recalled the delectable aromas emanating from her apartment the previous night. He'd now come to have an idea about her pattern of eating. She usually went for a substantial dinner, while breakfast was probably a simple toast. He just wasn't sure about her lunch habits because they had returned before getting anything to eat at Rio's place, which gave her the chance to cook something for herself.
"Question," he said before Mai disappeared. "Do you cook the things you feed your sister?"
"Of course I do," she looked disgusted, as if appalled by the thought of feeding her sister raw meat.
"No need to get mad, I was just curious," he said as she locked her door and disappeared without giving him a response.
"Good talk…" he shook his head and made his way to the villa from the previous day. The zombies hadn't completely refreshed, but were still substantially crowding the streets. Once he started swinging his Katana, there was no stopping him as he flowed through the blood and guts of zombies without the slightest impediment. Not a single zombie had the physical capital to affect him in any meaningful way after his recent physique improvement, leaving Mai with no chance to act in the slightest. As opposed to the three hours from the previous day, he was at his destination within one hour. Of course, that also had to do with the fact that the zombies they encountered were clearly not as many as the previous day. While on the previous day he'd killed around seventeen or eighteen thousand zombies in three hours of constant fighting with a break in between, today that number had gone down to ten thousand.
Finally, at his first destination, he had no intentions of going inside and taking a break. He was full of energy and could continue battling. If it wasn't for the fact that Rio and Yuuma could get him to some more densely populated areas with more zombies, he would have continued on by himself.
Man, if the Ice Block were a little more friendly, things would be so much easier.
"Holy moly, you look terrifying, Orion-san," Yuuma immediately commented on his appearance, which was covered in blood and gore.
"Can't do anything about it, you slice through zombies from close range, their blood explodes in your face," he said with a shrug.
"Fighting like that, you are bound to constantly ruin your clothes and get blood all over your body," Rio commented, but her eyes still had the hungry look that Orion remembered from the previous day. "I suggest you invest in the Basic Cleansing Barrier. It will go a long way. I haven't prioritized getting it, but it should have use for you."
"Thanks, I'll keep it in mind. Shall we get going?" He said, looking at the thick clothes that both Yuuma and Rio were wearing. "Doesn't it hinder your movement?"
"I little hindrance is fine if it can protect us from getting bitten," Yuuma said, pulling out a large machete from a sheath on his jacket. Futaba, on the other hand, wielded a rapier. Of course, just like Mai, they both also had guns, but they were more likely to be used for emergencies. "How'd you guys get guns? Aren't they crazy regulated in Japan?"
"Sakurajima-senpai helped us raid a police station early on before it was completely ransacked. We have a couple of extra guns if you want," Yuuma said. "Not a lot of ammo, though. We wasted quite a bit in the early days."
"No need," Orion said. "Guns are only useful for getting zombies to flock to you. Or maybe to deal with other humans. It's a waste to use bullets on these guys."
"That's true," Futaba nodded. "Wish we'd known that before wasting all those bullets."
"No regrets, right?" Orion chuckled, suddenly having switched to English. "Let's get moving. I'm gon slau'ter me some zombie ass."
"What?" Kunimi frowned. "I didn't get the part after regrets."
"Doesn't matter," Orion shook his head.
"Probably an accented sentence," Futaba added helpfully.
Finally, the three of them moved out together. With their presence, the first thing Orion did was to hold back. He showed the same physical prowess that he had during the previous day, with a physique stat of around twenty-six. There were multiple reasons not to hold back in front of Mai, the primary one being that she already knew about his situation. But around others, he had to be cautious. He didn't plan to let anyone else know about his unique situation. If he had the option, he wouldn't have told Mai about it either, but he was a bit stunned at the time and didn't think things through before blurting them out. Then again, he had Mai's lifeline in his hand. She was clearly very desperate to heal her sister, and he was the only one capable of doing that, which significantly reduced his chances of being betrayed by her.
Even though Orion was holding back, his perception and senses were all still much more heightened, making things very easy for him to handle. It also allowed him to work in synergy with his two companions. Unlike Mai, he could very easily perceive them near him. That allowed him to work in synergy with them even though they weren't used to battling with him.
With that, what started could only be considered as mob farming, where two experienced players in a game led the newbie around the best spawn locations with the most leverage and helped him level up. They led Orion to multiple different areas where the zombie concentration was much larger, while also providing them with a better vantage point to take care of the zombies. It quickly became a thing where they were mostly leading him around and barely killing one or two zombies while he obliterated tens of zombies.
Just like that, hours passed before Yuuma ended up asking for a break, calling Orion a monster with an indomitable stamina and expressing his pity for the girl who decided to get into bed with him.
Throughout the process, Mai had been nowhere to be seen. Which made sense, after all, she'd only ever acted when some zombie ended up getting close to Orion, or when it seemed that he couldn't handle it. With Rio and Yuuma working with him, no zombies had even gotten close to any of them. Not to mention, his insanely improved stats, which, despite him holding back, had an effect on imperceptible things like his stamina and perception.
After a short break, the three of them got back to their farming as Orion's efficiency of killing continued to increase with the more experience he got in dealing with zombies. After all, Foundational Swordsmanship only taught about how to use the sword. It didn't immediately give him endless fighting experience.
They continued for the entire day with short breaks in between as Orion acted as a truly tireless machine of killing, barely taking ten-minute breaks every hour to keep himself alert and in control. Soon, it was barely an hour before sunset, and they stopped at that point, choosing to return to Rio's place.
The ash-blonde, along with Yuuma, invited both Orion and Mai into her house, and this was the first time that he had seen Mai since the morning.
Still, he was distracted as he cleaned himself off, looking at the single biggest haul of Origin Energy that he had received since he'd arrived on his planet.
Name: Orion Vaelor
Exile Gear: Infinite Dream
Specialization: Creation
Origin Energy: 2335.43 Units
Physique: 117.68
Matter Limit: 20 KG
Runic Energy: 117/117 Units [Grade II]
Slot I: Empty
Slot II: Empty
Techniques: (Expand)
Knowledge: (Expand)
In the ten or so hours that they had spent outside today, he had killed more than two hundred thousand zombies. Which meant twenty thousand an hour. It was a number that was hard for him to even accept, considering his efficiency by himself was barely half that by himself, even when he wasn't holding back. In the morning, it had taken him an hour to kill ten thousand zombies. Putting aside the unknown factor of the source of such an endless horde of mindlessly weak zombies, he felt that it wouldn't take long before he collected enough Origin Energy for the stasis necklace, which would allow him to take Mai with him to the settlement.
With that, he cleaned himself off and changed into a new set of clothes to spend some time resting at her place. Eventually, he left with Mai.
In truth, he had barely escaped after expending an immense amount of willpower to decline Rio's invitation to stay over and have dinner with him. She only gave the offer to him and not Mai, painting him a clear picture of what she wanted.
Does she really not care that Yuuma is there, or is there a different angle I'm not considering? If they aren't fucking, it's downright weird for them to be living like this. If they are, that means she's inviting me into a devil's three-way, which is even more wrong…
As he slowly made his way back to Mai's apartment, taking care of any stragglers that had survived his two-day onslaught, he felt her appear beside him and raised a brow in surprise.
***
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