Back in his room, Orion finally decided to tally up his harvest for the endless battles.
The zombies that had been forcefully brought up to grade four didn't give anything in the slightest, which Orion attributed to some kind of penalty imposed on them. Even then, the amount of Origin Energy he had received from the harvester was monstrous. Despite spending almost a hundred thousand units on the blueprint for the necklace, he was left with more than thirty thousand in excess.
Aside from that was the feedback he received from his gear when he had touched the dead body of Rio Futaba.
Absorbed Rapier Aspect Fragment.
Oh, these are the things that will help me improve the strength of my aspected runes. I just need to learn the technique to do that… So once someone brings an ability above the advanced grade, their system lets them touch upon that aspect. I don't like having to kill people to improve my abilities… But if there is no other way, I'll cross that bridge when the time comes.
Looking at the massive amount of Origin Energy he had, his first thought was simple: to improve his physique even further. Right now, he could even punch through concrete, obliterating it and affecting the integrity of the structure, which gave him a clearer understanding of his physique. In a literal sense, he was equal to a thousand average people added together. That brought his explosive punching force to be in the ballpark of an SUV ramming into a wall at full speed.
I'll leave some aside for the rune of cleaning and convert the rest into physique. I want to see what's going to stop me when I reach planet-busting levels within a few more months…
Laughing at the thought, he made himself comfortable on the couch and started watching the action movie that he hadn't been able to finish a few nights ago.
Somewhere in between, Mai came to his door and handed him a beautifully prepared steak dinner, almost bringing him to tears as he looked at the meticulous and thoughtful preparation by her.
Man, I miss my mom…
Eating dinner alone, with no one to talk to, made Orion feel like shit despite the downright luxurious meal in front of him. The aroma itself was almost the opposite of what his mom used to make, but it was the meticulous thought that he could feel was put into the dish that reminded him of his mother's meticulous preparation.
At the first bite of the dish, he choked up as a bitter feeling welled up in the back of his throat. The taste, even though it was different, reminded him exactly of home. Not the broken one he'd left behind in death, but the one that was already long gone when he was barely fourteen, with his loving father still in the picture. An image of him stealing the last piece of steak and the annoyed expression of his father appeared in his mind as he slowly chewed the bite in his mouth and swallowed with difficulty.
Every subsequent bite only made those feelings and memories intensify, but he didn't even think about stopping for a single moment, almost afraid that everything would disappear if he stopped for a single moment.
Halfway through, his vision was blurry with tears dripping down his face and into the plate, but he didn't care and continued eating until he'd finished everything, occasionally wiping his face with his sleeve, uncaring, spreading the grease all over his face and sleeve.
I thought I'd already come to terms with it, damnit...
Once the food was finished, he absently found himself back on the living room couch, rewatching the sole comedy movie that he had to soothe his melancholic heart.
In the end, he didn't dream of anything. He didn't improve his physique. He didn't even think about the route that he would take to go to the settlement tomorrow.
…
Orion woke up in the middle of the night, sweaty, greasy, and feeling suffocated. He'd passed out on the couch without realizing it and got his heart rate all messed up.
Night sweats? Weird…you'd think this body was perfect with no hormonal imbalances and shit like that after a thousand points in my physique…
Orion directly ripped off the greasy T-shirt that was sticking to his sweaty body, doing the same for the pyjamas. The sensation of the cold air directly hitting his sweaty body immediately made him sigh in relief as his impatience and annoyance faded a little.
At least I'm still human… a ridiculously strong human, but human nevertheless. I need a shower…and a shave.
He put his hand on his face, feeling the coarse stubble that had now grown after a few days in the apocalypse. Going into the bathroom, he first took a shower to get rid of the sweat stuck on his body, followed by shaving away the stubble. His movements weren't practiced since he didn't usually shave by himself, preferring to have someone else do it for him once a week.
"Man, people don't tell you how much you'd miss a barber shop in the apocalypse. Hopefully, there's someone with the necessary expertise at the settlement. I'm going to get a full-body massage and grooming package first thing when I'm there."
He rubbed some aftershave on his face, hissing as the cuts he'd inadvertently left burned.
"I still have a couple of hours before daylight. I should get that cleaning rune at least. I'm tired of getting all my clothes ruined."
Origin Energy: 38,392.26 -> 35,892.26 Units
Almost immediately, he fell asleep on the bed and started dreaming.
"You wanna learn the Rune of Cleaning, huh?"
"I do."
With the usual script, the old man in front of him started explaining everything about the cleaning rune to him. The rune worked in a simple fashion. The Aspect of Cleaning, just like Inspection, worked on a predefined set of rules. Aspects were essentially the embodiment of a certain concept, such as cleaning. The Rune of Cleaning wouldn't make any barriers around him, or anything of the sort. It simply expelled everything that was considered dirty. The unfortunate thing was that, unlike the barrier he'd seen on Mai, this one needed to be manually invoked by him, spending a full unit of Runic Energy. Still, it would achieve his purpose for the time being.
Waking up, he immediately inscribed the rune on his soul, spending the required ten units of Runic Energy. His first thought for practice was to clean the bloodied clothes that he'd tossed into the apartment beside his. He didn't bother wearing any clothes aside from his underwear and went over to the other apartment barefoot.
Immediately, he was assaulted by the nauseating smell of blood and rotting flesh, even though there was none in there. Gagging from the smell, he immediately activated the rune, consuming a unit of Runic Energy in the process. An invisible wave passed through the entire apartment from him and directly expelled all of the smell through the opening in the window. Not only the smell, but Orion saw that the bloodied clothes were also completely clean now. Only needing some ironing.
It didn't get rid of any other trash…only the zombie blood and its smell. I have to keep my intent clear when casting this rune. Thank god for the enhanced mind capacity that comes with high physique stats… Or I guess I should thank Great Red and Ophis.
Of course, it was clear to him that this rune couldn't have any combat applications. It didn't destroy anything and only pushed what he'd considered dirty away with some force. At best, it could be used as a means to separate a creature's blood from them, forcing it out of their orifices, but considering the force used by the wave, he doubted it could be done without weakening the creature first so that the wave could go beyond the strength of the heart's pumping.
He tested it a few more times before nodding in satisfaction and going back to his apartment.
"Time for the final thing," he said with an excited smile, though that disappeared the instant it came up. "Am I a masochist? No, I always pass out from the pain…"
He quickly commanded his gear to consume enough Runic Energy to bring his physique to a solid thirty thousand points.
Verse threshold limit exceeded.
Cannot improve physique beyond 10,000.
Exceeding the limit will result in expulsion from Verse.
Continue?
Orion paused, blinking in surprise.
"I guess that makes sense. Ten thousand would probably get me to the level of the Hulk in the MCU; he can casually punch through reinforced concrete and obliterate it. Any further, and I start destroying entire skyscrapers with my punches. It makes sense that such strength would be limited in this kind of world… but then why are runes not limited? Can a Verse not detect them? Maybe that's why everything I've received from the gear has been centered on runic magic."
While disappointed, he understood the reasoning behind it all and accepted it. With that, he closed his eyes and commanded his gear to get him to the limit of the verse.
Origin Energy: 35,892.26 -> 27,009.94 Units
The pain almost immediately made him black out, and he found himself seizing and twitching on the bed as the Origin Energy did its magic to bring him to the limit of strength that this world could accept.
(A/N: All right. With this, we are done with the prologue arc. Things have been set up, things have been introduced, and things will be fulfilled. The next arc will be introducing more characters, working with people, seeing the darkness of the human heart, and more. The usual zombie apocalypse stuff, essentially.)
***
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