Rumble
The sound of the waves behind him was overwhelming, but Mikael stayed focused and continued running in the opposite direction, trying to reach safety.
Not even a minute after escaping the two tsunamis, he saw a fourth one heading straight for him. ‘You’ve got to be kidding me. How can I be this unlucky?’ he thought in despair. ‘Now I’m surrounded by tsunamis on all sides… I’m screwed.’
He felt hopeless in this situation, thinking, ‘Seriously, is this how I die? Crushed by a tsunami?’
The thought of being crushed by towering waves, slowly suffocating and inevitably drowning, sent chills down his spine.
Slap
Mikael slapped his face to clear his mind. ‘No, I need to stay calm and think of a solution.’ Judging the distance of the tsunami, he estimated, ‘I’ve got about one minute before it reaches me. I need to figure something out fast.’
He looked around but saw only ruined buildings and a few intact two-story structures. There were no survivors nearby. He quickly abandoned his first idea of finding a tall building to climb and then jumping above the wave to "surf" it to safety.
With 30 seconds left before impact, Mikael thought of another plan. ‘The only other option is to face the tsunami with my back against a solid building. That way, I won’t get swept away when it hits. With my enhanced durability, I should survive. It’s not perfect, but it’s my best shot, and I’m running out of time.’
Without hesitation, he acted. He positioned himself against the wall of a two-story brick building, his back pressed firmly against it as he faced the oncoming tsunami.
The tsunami was now terrifyingly close, towering 100 meters high. The deafening roar of the crashing waves felt like it could destroy everything in its path.
Mikael felt fear creeping in. Who wouldn’t, knowing they were about to be hit by such a powerful force of nature? But he didn’t panic. He took a deep breath, braced himself, and clung tightly to the wall behind him.
Time seemed to stretch out endlessly as he waited for the impact, but it was only because he was so focused that every second felt longer.
Finally, the tsunami hit.
Mikael immediately felt the cold water engulf him. While the cold barely affected his enhanced body, the sheer force of the waves was another story.
As the water crashed into him, the impact pinned him against the wall with overwhelming force. He tried to move, but the pressure was too immense. All he could do was endure the crushing weight of the water, which strained his body to its limits. As he held on, he saw a car pass near him, colliding with a house and shattering into pieces from the sheer force of the impact.
‘Is this the strength of nature?’ he wondered, genuinely terrified but still doing his best to stay rational and calm.
For two minutes, Mikael remained trapped, the powerful current keeping him glued to the wall. ‘If I stay stuck here, I’ll run out of oxygen soon. Even with my enhanced stats, I don’t think I can last more than 10 minutes without air. And with two minutes already gone, I only have eight minutes left!’
By the third minute, the pressure began to ease slightly, allowing him to move a finger. By the fourth minute, he could move his hand. By the fifth, he was able to move his whole body, though very slowly, as he had to swim against the remaining pressure.
Mikael decided to wait a few more minutes, knowing that conserving energy would help him use less oxygen. He preferred to move when he was faster rather than waste precious air struggling unnecessarily.
When the eighth minute arrived, and he had been trapped under the tsunami for that long, Mikael began to move. By this time, his lungs were starting to feel empty, and he could sense he was running low on oxygen.
He began to swim toward the surface. His swimming speed was "slow," at least compared to what his stats should let him do. Certainly due to the powerful currents caused by the tsunami.
Surrounded by cold, dark water, Mikael felt a sense of isolation, but he persevered. By the time his lungs were burning, he finally broke through the surface.
As soon as he emerged from the water, he gasped for air, taking deep breaths.
After catching his breath, he started laughing "Hahahahaha." relieved to have survived the tsunami and simply happy to be alive.
It took him a moment to calm down before he began to take in his surroundings. He was floating on the surface of a vast body of water, with nothing but water as far as the eye can see. That a small lie, they are also some debris swept away by the waves that are floating around him.
The water was still turbulent, and he was being carried away by a strong current. But honestly, Mikael didn’t care where the current was taking him, as long as it didn’t pull him down into the depths...
Mikael spotted a piece of debris about 2 square meters in size. He climbed onto it and sat down, staying on guard for the next disaster.
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He didn’t have to wait long before a tsunami appeared on the horizon, heading straight toward him. However, having already survived one, the stress he felt was much lower.
To survive, he decided to dive into the depths and wait until the tsunami passed. After all, he was now surrounded by water. Needless to say, he swam much slower than he could run, so escaping the wave by swimming would require a lot of energy.
As the gigantic wave approached, he took a deep breath, then plunged into the water, swimming toward the bottom.
He stayed about 30 meters below the surface and was mildly surprised to find that when the tsunami passed overhead, he felt nothing—no currents, no pressure, nothing at all. He had expected the impact to be reduced by being underwater, but he didn’t think it would work this well.
When he was submerged in the depths, he tried to look around to check for any debris headed his way. However, the muddy water stirred up by the tsunami obscured his view, limiting his enhanced vision to just 15-20 meters around him.
Fortunately for him, no debris came close, allowing him to remain safely in the depths for the next four minutes before he began his ascent.
After swimming for a short while, he broke through the surface and quickly found another piece of debris to climb on. ‘It seems like the water level increases after each tsunami,’ he thought, ‘because I’m sure I descended about 30 meters, but I must have ascended nearly 60 or 70 meters.’
Over the next hours, Mikael repeated the same strategy: diving when a tsunami approached, then resurfacing a few minutes later to climb back onto a piece of debris and wait for the next natural disaster.
This strategy worked well, and he wasn’t in great danger. The closest he came to danger was when a hurricane formed nearby. But Mikael swam at full speed in the opposite direction, allowing him to escape its path.
By the time a full day had passed since the start of the natural disasters, he received a long-awaited notification.
[Quest: Survival 1 completed.
Rewards: 5K LP]
Mikael thought happily, ‘Finally, this quest is finished. I’m tired of being in this world. It’s not really physical exhaustion—it’s more mental. Being on guard 24/7 is really draining, and with the added pressure of evading disasters, it’s no surprise I’m worn out.’
‘There’s also the quest to survive for a week, which would give me 10K LP. It’s a shame to let that much LP slip through my fingers, but I think it would be more efficient to return to training instead of spending another week here and it would also be extremely tiring to stay in this world for a complete week.’
After making his decision, he spoke. "Records, I want to leave this world."
[Ejection will begin in 5 minutes.]
Mikael remained motionless on a floating piece of wood for the next 5 minutes before disappearing in a flash of light.
When Mikael appeared in the Hub, he was startled. Unlike previous times, the Hub wasn’t silent. On the contrary, it was noisy, with a lot of people talking.
He looked around and saw many people, some staring at nothing. ‘They’re probably looking at their system windows,’ Mikael thought. He also noticed groups of people talking, while others stood alone, but overall, it was relatively calm. There were no fights, and no one seemed aggressive. Mikael concluded that this was likely due to the System’s rules and the threat of death if someone attacked others. As he continued observing, he noticed that most people were quite young.
The majority appeared to be in their twenties. Sure, there were a few who looked as young as ten and others who seemed around seventy, but most were young adults.
Taking in the scene, Mikael recalled, ‘I almost forgot, the Public Hub and the leaderboard came into play while I was in the natural disaster world.’
With that thought, he decided to head back to his apartment to take care of a few things. The first thing on his mind, however, was changing his clothes, which were completely drenched from all the water.
As he began walking toward the stairs that would teleport him to his apartment, a few people glanced at him because of his soaked clothes, but it was nothing more than a brief look. After all, exploring a world often led to strange situations, and coming back with drenched clothes wasn’t really surprising.
He climbed the stairs and was teleported to his apartment, where he immediately took a hot shower. Under the steaming water, he sighed with contentment. ‘Even though I don’t really feel cold thanks to my reinforced body, wearing drenched clothes is uncomfortable. This hot shower feels amazing.’
After getting out of the shower, he bought some new clothes. He was a bit tired of wearing the same ones all the time.
He put on the new clothes: a comfortable white t-shirt and grey jogging pants.
He then sat on his bed and thought, ‘Now that I’m out of those clothes and have some time, I should decide what to do with my LP.’ He pondered, ‘Hmm, from the 5K I have, I should keep at least 1K, ideally 2K, for my training with Kiara. That leaves me with 3K to buy some System Upgrades.’
Mikael took his time browsing the system's upgrade store, where he found a wide variety of options. Some were familiar, like the [Training System] and [Immunity System], while others were unknown, like the [Traits System] and [Limiter System].
After carefully inspecting the available upgrades, he chose to buy the [Training System] and the [Immunity System].
[Training System.
Requirement: None
Allows the user to train and become stronger, gaining stats through training. The number of stats gained is determined by the efficiency of the training and the user’s ‘talent.’ Talent includes, but is not limited to, race, comprehension (mind power), body potential, and foundation. Price: 2K LP]
[Immunity System.
Requirement: None
In the multiverse, there are an unquantifiable number of diseases. You don’t want to get a multiversal STD, so get this system to protect yourself from all types of viruses, bacteria, parasites, and similar threats. Note: This system does not protect against poison. Price: 1K LP]
‘With these purchases, I’m 3K lighter, but I still have 2K LP left. So I can say this is the richest I’ve ever been after an purchases...’
‘These two systems seem to be the best choices for now. First of all, the Training System—it allows me to gain stats through training. Right now, it might not be that useful, but the most interesting part is that I can potentially gain abilities from the systems of the worlds I explore.’
‘I could, for example, enter a cultivation world and gain Qi through cultivation. Or at least, I could if I had the Spiritual Stats System… So yeah, for now, it’s not immediately useful, but in the near future, it will be. The one thing I can use right away is that it lets me start refining my body.’
‘All in all, the Training System will be beneficial. But what about the Immunity System? It’s useful because it protects me from diseases. I basically got it as a universal vaccine.’