39-Training Fight

While following Carol, I opened the system store and upgraded my defense and foresight runes to the maximum level. The boar rune on my back became more detailed and larger.

My defense rune was formidable, but it weakened in the fire giant form. However, the foresight rune could maintain its strength in the fire giant form.

The eye tattoo on my hand became more intricate and grew larger. Occasionally, it could be seen looking in different directions.

After enhancing my existing runes, I purchased the agility rune and leveled it up to the maximum. A wing tattoo appeared on my left leg, but no one could see it; the wing tattoo covered half of my left leg.

My clothes concealed the growth of my tattoos. Carol could only see the eye tattoo on my left hand.

"Do I feel it, or is the eye tattoo on your hand moving?" she asked.

"You must be imagining things," I replied and assumed a fighting stance. Carol mimicked me with a serious expression.

"Before we begin, I should warn you, I won't hold back," Carol said. I nodded my head and remained silent. Carol smiled and flew towards me.

While flying around Carol, a colorful energy appeared. As it rapidly approached me, thanks to my foresight rune, I swiftly sidestepped with incredible reflexes.

Carol passed by me swiftly, colliding with a large rock behind me. Upon turning around, I noticed she was flying rapidly back towards me. Despite the warning from my foresight rune, I couldn't react to this attack.

Carol grabbed me from my waist, continuing to fly rapidly. After about fifty meters, we crashed into a small mountain.

"Damn it," I muttered, feeling a sharp pain in my back and growing increasingly frustrated.

"If this is all you can do, I'll win the bet," Carol declared.

Her words fueled my anger; I kicked her in the stomach, sending her flying off me. I quickly got up and threw a punch. Carol swiftly recovered, passing under my fist and landing a punch to my abdomen.

Ignoring her punch, I seized her arm and slammed her with all my strength.

The blow should have been quite impactful, but Carol didn't seem too affected.

While she was on the ground, she grabbed my leg and flew, dragging me behind her. After soaring about twenty meters, she threw me down.

I crashed to the ground, causing the earth to tremble. Carol lowered herself above me, saying, "We can stop whenever you want."

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Ignoring her, I leaped off the ground and pounced on her. Caught off guard, Carol couldn't escape.

I punched her in the face, bringing her down. Exploiting the shock, I continued my punches, but with each hit, the energy surrounding her diminished the impact, limiting the damage.

The punches kept coming, and Carol couldn't lift her head. Frowning, her energy suddenly doubled, launching me away.

After flying about ten meters, I raised my head. The energy around Carol had increased, making it difficult to see her.

"You're going all out for a practice fight," I said with a big smile on my face.

Carol remained silent and flew rapidly towards me. She was so fast that my foresight rune and eyes couldn't track her. Realizing I couldn't do anything, I swung my fist with all my might. I didn't know where Carol was, but it was worth a try.

Seeing me throw a punch, Carol did the same. Our fists collided, creating a massive explosion. The force of the explosion tore the surroundings apart.

The impact of our fists brought intense pain to my arm, and I flew back rapidly. After flying about a hundred meters, I crashed into a small mountain and came to a stop.

"That was a heavy blow," I said. My back was numb, and I couldn't feel my right arm. My skin was peeled, revealing my bones.

Despite being heavily wounded, a broad smile adorned my face. My muscles were burning, and the wounds on my body were rapidly healing.

"I've finally pushed the limit," I declared, releasing the energy in the defense rune on my back. An explosion occurred, shattering the small mountain I was embedded in.

Seeing the explosion, Carol swiftly approached me. She was surprised to find no injuries on me.

"Are you sure you're human?" she asked.

"Absolutely human," I affirmed.

Looking at Carol, I saw that she had no injuries either. Clearly, I had understood that I couldn't defeat her without using all my powers.

*Even if I use all my powers, I'm not sure I can beat her.* This universe is vast, and there are many beings stronger than Carol. If I wanted to carve a place for myself in this universe, I needed to get stronger.

"You won the bet," I conceded.

"I won't deny it; you're quite powerful," Carol said, grabbing me by the arm and flying towards the spaceship.

As we headed towards the spaceship, I reflected on my fight with Carol. She had fought throughout her life and was an experienced warrior; with her formidable energy, she became almost invincible.

Seeing the contemplative expression on my face, Carol remarked, "If I knew you'd be this upset, I wouldn't have done it." I could still sense her teasing tone.

"I'm not upset."

"You're definitely upset."

"Whatever."

We returned to the spaceship and promptly left this planet without wasting any time. I was piloting the spaceship because I was bored.

Carol had taken off her costume, put on comfortable clothes, and was sitting in the back passenger seat. Being a friendly person, Carol quickly trusted people and, after fully mastering her powers, began a mission to protect the universe by defending innocent races.

I hadn't understood why she did such a thing. If I were in her place, I would exploit weaker races to become even more powerful.

When Carol noticed me looking at her, she jokingly said, "Has my beauty enchanted you?"

I smiled upon hearing her words. "Why are you doing this?" I asked.

Carol was surprised by my question and didn't understand what I meant. "Why am I doing what?" she said.

"You're traveling the universe helping those in need without any apparent reason. Why?" I inquired.

Upon hearing my question, Carol fell silent and stared into the dark void of space as if contemplating past events. "I've been through bad things, and I didn't want others to experience what I've been through," she said.

"Is that reason enough?" she added.

I didn't speak upon hearing her words and just nodded. I didn't dwell on this topic any longer and focused on piloting the spaceship.

*BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!*

About an hour later, an alarm sounded from the passenger cockpit.

"Do you know what's causing this?" I asked.

Carol stood up, walked over to me, and looked at why the alarm was going off. "It's a distress call," she said with a worried expression.

"A distress call? Who's sending it?" I inquired.

The anxious look on Carol's face turned into a worried one. "A friend of mine is sending it," she said, taking me out of the driver's seat and sitting down herself.