It was early in the morning, and a certain scholar was facing down five terraclaws along a jungle path.

  “Troublesome…” Roman mumbled under his breath.

  He then proceeded to take out the weapon from the within his floral shirt.

  I wish I had more time to practice with this thing, but as they say, “No time like the present!”

  Roman then proceeded to whirl the air around him, gathering it into the barrel and compressing it into a marble. Just doing this much required intensive concentration, and Roman scrunched his face as he focused his mind on the gathering gale.

  Once it was finished, Roman took aim at one of the approaching terraclaws and pulled the trigger. In that instant, an invisible bullet was launched from the gun towards the head of the centermost terraclaw in the group. It darted through the air, and in less than a second, the bullet reached the terraclaw and made contact.

  Nothing happened at first; but then, it exploded.

  The terraclaw died instantly as it burst apart in an explosion of air and limbs. It was so violent, in fact, that Roman was forced to shield himself impact. Meanwhile, the remaining terraclaws were launched away from their positions, thrown away from the explosion.

  The others are still alive? They’re just as tough as Triton said they’d be.

  Roman regained his composure, and began compressing another bullet, which was promptly shot at another terraclaw; it died in an equally violent way. This process repeated itself; compress, shoot, explode, compress, shoot, explode; until nothing way left except five craters in the ground and a mess of chitinous limbs.

  Once Roman confirmed the death of the last terraclaw, he quickly lost his composure and fell over from exhaustion. He quickly sank to his knees and grabbed his head to calm the throbbing pain.

  Fuck… Just making those little bullets took everything I had! This gun is powerful, but it takes far too much concentration to control the air like that.

  Roman had already gotten to the second stage of his class and gained the ability to wield the air. Unfortunately, just because he could do it, it didn’t make it easy. It required a ton of aether and mental fortitude to compress it like he just did, and even then, he still risked it blowing up in his face whenever he made a bullet.

  Whatever… Let’s just get this job done and practice later.

  …

  Roman walked down the cliffside path towards the beach, known by the locals as Bum’s Break. He looked down at the beach below and witnessed an interesting sight. On the beach, a group of men were cutting apart what looked to be giant snails, preparing them for being salted and dried.

  Further away, however, there was a more interesting sight.

  The teenage boy he had briefly come to know as Lukey was performing large leaps in the air. Not only that, but he was also doing so while bouncing from one foot to the other. Roman could only guess that it had something to do with his stance and went down to the beach to investigate.

  …

  “Lukey,” Roman called out. “I hear you’ve been working hard, but now it’s apparent. Are you working on your stance?”

  “Roman? Hey, it’s already been two weeks! What took you so long?” Lukey replied.

  Lukey had made the request from Triton almost two weeks ago, and within that time he and Saphina had slain a small mountain in Ogoronia. At this point they were almost finished with the extermination, aside from one stretch of beach that they had yet to approach.

  “Just some holdups with my administrative duties and getting my second class.” Roman waved away.

  Second class?

  [Roman Barzola (Beginner Fisherman) Lv. 85]

  Ah, that’s what he’s referring to too.

  “Now, back to your stance art. Is this how you’re planning to modify it?” Roman questioned

  “It is,” Lukey called down from up in the air. After landing and kicking up a cloud of sand, he ran over to the scholar to face him directly. “I’ve decided to focus on balance and speed, and I’ve been practicing using my stance to maximize those aspects specifically.”

  Lukey had been practicing this style ever since Bohdi advised him on improving his balance. Every morning he’d get up and began balancing on the pole, which was quickly followed by a session of hauling Ogoronia out using his lure. After that, he would practice dodging them directly before ending the day with a large meal.

  All that practice resulted in building his lower body and core to the point that his legs nearly doubled in size from before. It may have seemed like a lot of work, but everything became simple once he started falling into a routine. In the end, he was still just fishing; perhaps it was a bit different to what he was normally used to, but in principle they were still the same.

  “Balance and speed, huh?” Roman chewed. “That’s not a bad idea, but I hope you understand what you’re giving up.”

  “I do,” Lukey said plainly. “If I modify [Fisherman’s Stance] to focus on just my lower body, I give up the ability to charge my arms like I usually do.”

  “Yes, but the aether cost will be lower, while giving you a much stronger output.” Roman rebutted. “Besides, you don’t have to give up the ability to charge your arms with aether, just turn that aspect into its own separate art.”

  “I can do that?” Lukey gawked. “You really need to show me how to start modifying my arts soon. Speaking of which, I need to have something looked at with your [Insight].”

  “All in due time,” Roman halted. “It’s nice to know you’re planning ahead, but that discussion is best left for somewhere not filled with sand and dead snails.”

  “Alright, I suppose.” Lukey sighed. “Anyways, what’s the news back in Tranquil Waters?”

  “Well,” Roman began. “Construction of the new icon is already underway, but it will be another week until it’s finished; Caldoon is supervising the project in the town. Meanwhile, Triton got concerned about the terraclaws after your report that you got attacked; he’s already gathered a group of luxen warriors, along with some of the Ryugu, to go destroy their nests.”

  “The terraclaw situation is that bad, huh?” Lukey pondered. “Well, at least he has help now.”

  “Agreed,” Roman nodded. “Now, do you have some shells for me to look at?”

  Lukey quickly said yes, then guided Roman over to the pile of discarded shells. Roman looked at them with curiosity before picking one of the man-sized shells up and analyzing it.

  “Well, I’ll be damned,” Roman said. “These shells are imbued with a trait called [Spatial Compression]. According to [Insight], it allows the Ogoronia to stuff their massive bodies in these tiny shells if they ever need to hide.”

  “Is it useful in any way?” Lukey asked out of curiosity.

  “Oh, absolutely!” Roman exclaimed. “If we get the chitinshaper to absorb the aether in these shells, he can probably copy the trait and infuse it into various items.” Then Roman frowned. “Unfortunately, the aether is already starting to evaporate from these shells, so we need to get them to town fast.”

  The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

  “Then, hurry!” Lukey exclaimed.

  Together they rushed to get one of the fishing nets from Bluefin Village and stuffed as many shells inside as possible. This resulted in Roman hauling two big nets of shells beside him as he began to make his way back up the cliffside path.

  “Goodbye and be careful!” Roman called out. “With this many Ogoronia, the chances of a tyrant showing up among them are fairly high!”

  “I will!” Lukey called back, and with that they parted ways.

  …

  Quest 2: Attack of the Killer Snails

  With Bluefin Village’s fishermen helping to take apart the Ogoronia’s bodies, we are exterminating them quite efficiently. All we have left now is one stretch of beach…

  Unfortunately, Roman took off before he could discuss the strange art he got. It was fine though, because he would soon be returning to Tranquil Waters anyways. So instead of focusing on that, Lukey chose to continue his morning workout.

  First, he propped himself on one leg. Then, he manually pushed the aether into that leg specifically. Lukey charged it up and bent his knee, then released it all in a burst of speed that launched him upwards. Lukey rose several yards into the air and even managed to perform a backflip before he was embraced by gravity and brought down to earth on his other foot.

  It took a lot of work to get this far, and Lukey must’ve fallen on his rear dozens of times before he even managed to land on both feet, but he eventually made it. Between performing this dozens of times and hauling Ogoronia out of the sand, his legs were practically on fire. The growth of muscles in his legs and torso was largely because of this training, forcing his body to adjust to his strength and agility.

  Of course, he wasn’t simply hopping from one foot to another to perform tricks. Instead, it was for an entirely different reason.

  Lukey leaned forward and pushed off the ground with one leg pumped full of aether. This action sent him flying over the sand for several yards. Before he landed, he pumped aether into his other leg, and Lukey did it all over again: charge, leap, charge, leap.

  At first Lukey could only keep this up for two or three jumps, but now he could keep it up for around five or six. By doing this, he could travel long distances using a series of leaps. With some more practice, Lukey even managed to jump side to side, and he could also switch to using two feet if he needed to charge forward.

  [Fisherman’s Stance] didn’t allow for aether to run continuously in his body; it simply went against the rules ingrained in the art. Instead, Lukey had to effectively cheat by bouncing around like a frog.

  It looks a bit strange, but if it works, it works. At least I won’t be easily caught should anything happen.

  Of course, Bohdi also helped in coming up with the exercises. With his experience, he knew exactly what muscles to focus on and even gave plenty of guidance on how to control them. At this point, Lukey’s body was a well-oiled machine, one with complete freedom of movement.

  …

  Lukey finished leaping across the beach and went back to the shack. Today was the day they finally began clearing out those last pesky Ogoronia, and if he wanted to finish them off, he needed a decent meal. He entered the shack and immediately sat himself down on an ornate wooden dining chair, right next to Saphina.

  “Darn, you’re back,” Saphina cursed. “I thought maybe I could eat your meal.”

  “Over my dead body,” Lukey spat back in irritation.

  Lukey and Saphina continued to chat, while Bohdi was busy fixing breakfast.

  “I appreciate everything you guys have done. Heck, you even sorted out things with the elder.” Bohdi commented.

  “No problem. After all, we’re benefitting from the experience just as much as you are.” Lukey replied.

  Speaking of which…

  [Lukey (Ogoronia Annihilator) Lv. 38]

  Together, Lukey and Saphina must have exterminated a few hundred Ogoronia, which was all but confirmed by their latest string of achievements.

  Everyone involved clearly didn’t realize how bad of a problem this was, because there was no way hundreds of killer snails could infest the beach without being noticed. This was the result of some severe negligence, which made it all the more fortunate that they were here to deal with the situation.

  At least the achievements come with a boost to my vitality. This should mean I’ll have even more stamina in the future.

  Of course, more vitality also meant he needed to eat more to supplement it, which is exactly why he was anxious to start eating. Fortunately, Lukey didn’t have to wait long; two bowls of rice were served up, topped with stir-fried vegetables and fried snail meat.

  In the end, it didn’t matter how strange the Ogoronia looked. The fact was that they were very muscular, and that muscle made the meat very thick and chewy. It was tough, but that was far preferable to having to eat a bowl of slimy goop.

  “You know,” Lukey said between mouthfuls of food, “I bet Kiran could probably make something with all that meat.”

  “Kiran?” Bohdi asked.

  “A culinarian,” Saphina explained, also between mouthfuls, “and yeah, he probably could. In fact, once we clear out the beach, we can throw a party to celebrate!”

  “Sounds awesome,” Bohdi commented while cleaning up his makeshift kitchen. “A party would be a great way to announce that the beach is open again. It’ll also be nice to have people back after so long.”

  The rest of their meal was quickly engulfed, and once it was finished, Lukey stood up and shoved the empty bowl to the center of the table.

  “Alright, sounds good,” Lukey confirmed. “As a matter of fact, both my birthday and the new year are approaching, so we have plenty of reason to celebrate. But if that’s the case, we should probably get that last stretch of beach cleared out. In the meantime, I’ll [Whisper] Triton and tell him to bring some people.”

  …

  This is it, huh? One last stretch of beach, after that a party, then I can go home and relax until I inevitably get called to do another mission.

  Lukey swung the lure with the help of [Wild Trapper] and threw the hook in an arc across the water. The hook ended up landing near a submerged Ogoronia, which quickly engulfed and ate it without a second thought. Once the hook was tight, Lukey began hauling the bestial snail out of the water as he had done a hundred times before.

  Charge and pull, charge and pull. Use my body as a lever and push using the back leg.

  The Ogoronia was quickly pulled out of the shallows, making it much easier to attack once it didn’t have the water to help its body float. Saphina laid into it with her club, and the Ogoronia quickly died, just as all the others before it had done.

  “Is that it? Is that the last one?” Saphina asked.

  In response, Lukey ran into the water and used [Ripple Sense] to give him a sense of his surroundings, just as he’d done a hundred times as well. This time, he gave it some extra power; this drained his aether bank quite a bit, but it also allowed him to thoroughly search an extremely wide area.

  “One,” he said. “Only one left, way out that way.”

  Lukey pointed to the southeast side of the beach.

  “Finally!” Saphina said. “Let’s get this over with.”

  They walked over in that direction, the shallow water sloshing below them as they trudged on. Meanwhile, as they made their way towards the lone Ogoronia, they looked around and noticed many empty shells half submerged in the sand. In addition, there were also many large shards of glass strewn about that they were forced to avoid.

  That’s strange. We haven’t cleared this area, but those shells look like they belong to other Ogoronia. And what’s with all the glass?

  Another [Ripple Sense] didn’t reveal anything either. Just a hundred empty shells scattered haphazardly in the shallow water. Incidentally, there was only one thing in the very center of the remains: the final Ogoronia.

  Lukey glanced at Saphina, who was walking slightly ahead of him. She didn’t seem to be concerned about it, but then again, she believed that anything could be resolved through brute force. Still, Lukey took this as a sign of reassurance as he quickly hurried after her.

  Then, shortly after catching up with her, he stopped.

  “Hey, Lukey, what’s the hold up?” Saphina called back.

  Lukey didn't respond. He simply couldn’t respond because a horrible feeling of dread had washed through him. It was only another moment after that he received something he had never seen before.

  [Caution! A Tyrant Approaches!]

  [Identification: Norman, The Cannoneer Lv. 45]

  The notifications, courtesy of [Tyrant Sense], flashed in his mind. Meanwhile, Lukey looked up to see Saphina continuing without an ounce of fear. Based on the display, Lukey would have to assume she didn’t have [Tyrant Sense], because if she did, she would be running by now.

  You only get the art after encountering your first tyrant; I guess she hasn’t had the pleasure yet.

  “Saphina, I think we should leave!” Lukey called out.

  Saphina looked back in confusion. Meanwhile, a third [Ripple Sense] revealed that the Ogoronia was already starting to rouse from its slumber.

  “Run!” Lukey called out, and Saphina began following shortly after.

  They did their best to wade through the shallow tide, but they didn’t get very far before three massive explosions of water walled off their escape.