He would continue with the plan. Teseu turned to be grabbed on the chest by the vile tongue, being pulled rapidly toward the mouth of the cursed monster for the second and last time. He positioned his spear and imbued it with a significant portion of his Qi, leaving only what was necessary to increase his strength. The spear hit, with almost surgical precision, the roof of the toad's mouth heading towards the brain, but stopped when it reached the bone of the skull.
Teseu, who was completely swallowed by the thing, tried to remain calm as the acid threatened to cover his entire body. He had no hope that he could penetrate the creature's hard skull even if he used all the Qi in his body to propel the spear. But there was still one option, a gamble. He had already imbued something else almost to the limit, in addition to the parrot's beak and the current spear. It was a certain particularly large stone that he had thrown at a certain scorpion, which gave him an idea. The stone, which should have been reinforced by Qi, simply shattered almost to the point of exploding. If he was right, then this fight was already won.
===
A sudden pulse of Qi made the toad waver; it stopped and looked up. Above its head, a gigantic red planet hovered in the sky far beyond the clouds. It couldn't help but think about how it hadn't stopped to admire it before, the source of the light that drove it mad and made it frantically seek new prey. Had it always looked so beautiful? So... red... *explodes*
===
Teseu crawled out of the headless corpse. The fact that he was covered from head to toe in corrosive acid made Teseu hesitate for a moment; the pain and itching he would feel could not be taken lightly.
With fearful steps, he reached out his hand.
***
As the day dawned and the huge red planet set behind the mountain range, Teseu could barely stand, atop a pile of corpses from a multitude of creatures. From spiders, scorpions, and horned beetles to a kind of bat with a long tail that served as a whip. He leaned on his club with one hand while firmly holding a small dagger with the other.
He was sure of only two things. First, he now possessed a strength no human had ever had before. Second, if he passed out on this pile of bodies, even during the day, the chances of some animal finding his helpless body were very high.
Teseu circulated Qi through his body one more time. He had already practically mastered this ability. Slowly, he approached the river to bathe, leaving his two only weapons on a nearby rock. He washed away all the dirt from his pale skin that now covered his entire body. Looking at the murky reflection in the water, Teseu couldn't help but let out a small laugh.
"I'm starting to look like that guy who defeats all the villains with a single punch; I just need to work out a bit and, who knows, maybe find the fresh corpse of a huge and powerful dragon! I'm sure absorbing all that Qi would make me almost invincible!" After cleaning himself, Teseu walked towards a particularly sturdy tree, circled Qi into his beaked dagger, and easily carved the tree trunk to create a temporary shelter.
Sitting and huddled, with his dagger in hand and clutching his club, Teseu finally tried to sleep. Absorbing Qi may restore stamina, but the tension in his muscles and mental exhaustion had accumulated throughout his time here. Even in an uncomfortable position, he fell asleep peacefully.
***
Upon waking up, he was confused again.
"What the hell! There's no way I got out of that tree trunk while sleeping..." Getting up and looking around, Teseu suddenly stopped when he recognized the familiar balcony. The feeling of relief lasted only until he exhaled, which he didn't even know he had been holding since he woke up.
*Cough* *cough* *cough*
Black smoke was pouring out of his mouth along with black ichor threatening to flood his lungs!
*Toss* *toss* *toss*
Teseu felt like he was coughing his guts out through his lungs. He continued to cough until all the black goo seemed to come out. The exhaustion was only surpassed by the terrible taste in his mouth.
After some time to recover, Teseu entered, dropped his things on the couch, and went straight to the bathroom. For a disturbing moment, he pondered whether he should rinse his mouth with bleach; he even picked up the bottle, but decided to just brush his teeth as many times as necessary.
After brushing his mouth eleven times, the taste finally disappeared. He went to the bedroom and collapsed on the bed... he fell asleep.
***
Upon waking up, he was confused again.
"But what the hell! There's no way that was a dream!" He was back in the tree trunk again!
Teseu almost kicked the tree bark covering the entrance to the "shelter," but stopped when he realized he was forgetting Something.
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"Where are my weapons? I'm sure... ha, ha ha, hahaha!" Teseu burst into laughter as he realized the madness he was in. It wasn't just ordinary laughter; it was one in which despair, relief, and happiness mixed.
"Haha... haaa. So, I change worlds when I sleep, is that it? I can also bring things from here to there, and probably from there to here as well, right? Now, can I bring anything?" Wanting to test his hypothesis, he picked up a nearby wood chip. Holding the wood chip firmly in his hands, Teseu focused on going back to sleep.
***
Waking up in his bed, with no trace of the wood chip, Teseu couldn't help but be a little disappointed.
"Damn, I expected that, but it's still a bit frustrating; I was already thinking about looking for a gold vein in the other world and bringing it all here to become filthy rich!" Teseu grumbled. Then he went to retrieve his weapons and found them lying on the couch. Taking his club, he examined it and noticed something discouraging; he picked up the dagger to confirm his suspicions, and a scowl quickly formed on his face.
After absorbing the Qi from the monstrous toad, the veins in his body seemed to become saturated with energy and began to change. They were much larger, more efficient, and could retain a certain amount of Qi within them, as Qi was now being absorbed into his muscle tissues, with his heart being the priority.
This transformation in his veins made him capable of sensing Qi in the environment around him. Because of this, Teseu now knew that common materials like wood or stone should not be imbued with Qi in concentrations higher than that of the atmosphere because, over time, Qi would simply leak out until it matched the proportions of the environment.
Turns out, the Earth's atmosphere had no Qi at all! The parrot's beak, which was an excellent conductor of Qi, was completely empty. The club still held a small amount, but Teseu could tell that the Qi was dispersing into the air around him. With a sigh, Teseu began to draw the Qi back from the club to himself.
"Now, this is going to be complicated. I wanted to at least be
able to hold more Qi in my body; with what I have now, I can't even infuse half of a club, even with my veins holding as much Qi as they can." With a sigh, he set his club aside and went to the kitchen to find a knife. With a common metal knife, Teseu tried to imbue it with Qi and felt a slight resistance, but the knife quickly became saturated and started to tremble. Knowing what was about to happen, Teseu pulled all the Qi back rapidly. He stood there staring at the knife, lost in thought.
After a few minutes of contemplation, he picked up his phone to check the date. He only had one more day in this house, and he had many things to test; it was better to start now.
***
There were only a few hours left in his stay. Teseu didn't want to leave, but he needed to sort out his affairs at the office where he worked. He would resign as soon as he returned. With the incredible prospect of becoming a superhuman, continuing to work almost ten hours a day watching charts go up and down, earning just a little more than minimum wage, didn't seem rational. So, he would go back to the city to quit, put his father's house (which was now his) up for sale, and renew the rental of the cottage he was in. He would also use his savings to buy various items needed to get stronger faster.
As for why he was returning to the forest home, it was quite simple: he didn't want his powers to be discovered by others too soon, at least not until he was bulletproof. Imagine, you gain the incredible ability to move between worlds and become stronger by defeating monsters, only to end up sedated and tied to a laboratory bed to be studied by the government.
Grabbing his keys, Teseu got into the pickup truck and headed towards the city.
***
The big city was just the same as ever, with many people, noisy cars, and garbage scattered in the streets. Teseu was in the financial district; he wanted to quit before anything else just to see the look of astonishment on his boss's face. The bastard had been his tormentor for the past two years he worked at the company. Of course, the management didn't care about the Spartan tactics he used. "Nothing is more important than profit!" they said.
Teseu climbed the stairs to the 5th floor where he worked. With the almost superhuman strength and endurance he possessed, waiting for an elevator to go up so little seemed like a waste of time.
When he got to the office, he was met with a strange scene. Several employees were crowded around their boss's desk, speaking loudly or shouting. Of course, the Spartan bastard was also shouting.
"I don't care if the coffee maker broke and spilled hot coffee on Miss Heller! It could have spilled on ALL OF YOU! IT DOESN'T MATTER! We have a two-day deadline to analyze the data provided by R&T International Company! None of you will leave until you have completed twice the quota for the day!"
Teseu could almost hear his colleagues grinding their teeth. Poor Heller was holding her right hand while trembling; her hand was almost entirely red, and her clothes were covered in coffee stains.
"But, Mr. Thompson, Heller needs medical attention! With her hand in that condition, she won't be able to meet even the daily quota, let alone twice!"
"Get back to work!"
"But, sir..."
"GET BACK TO WORK!"
As Teseu approached, the crowd began to disperse. When he was only two or three steps away from Thompson's desk, he saw one of the employees who was still standing, looking at Thompson with a somber expression.
In an instant, Teseu felt that something bad was about to happen, and the next moment, the man pulled a gun from his pocket and aimed it at Thompson!
At that moment, Teseu didn't think about anything; he just acted. The night before, in the other world, he had made a much larger fire with the help of a machete that he could barely imbue completely. This same machete allowed him to kill monsters much more easily. He felt that his muscles were at a third of the Qi required for qualitative change. In other words, he was much stronger now!
Teseu jumped towards the gun with the intention of aiming it towards the side wall or the ceiling. The man had a psychotic and bloodthirsty look, focused on the source of his hatred; he almost didn't see Teseu approaching.
When Teseu was about to grab the gun, the man started pulling the trigger.
Seeing everything in slow motion, Teseu understood that he wouldn't be able to change the direction of the gun, at least not enough. So, he simply placed his hand in front of the shot while reinforcing it with Qi to the limit! *Bang*
"What...!"
"Kyaaaa!"
The man barely managed to say a word before being taken down to the ground. People began to scream; some ran, while others hid under their desks.
Thompson still had a stunned expression. He had seen the man pull out the gun and also saw Teseu put his hand in front of the shot, then immobilize the man on the ground. It shouldn't have been possible for the boy's hand to remain intact!
Teseu's hand was bleeding, but the bullet couldn't pass through, leaving only a moderately serious wound that was healing at a clearly abnormal speed for a normal human.