章節 40: Unit member

"So, if I understand correctly, you're actually the second weakest?" Tom asked, seeking confirmation.

Mooglie nodded enthusiastically in response.

"SO WHY THE FUCK ARE YOU HAPPY?" Tom shouted. His outburst startled Mooglie, and he immediately fell silent, sulking.

"Sigh, I'm sorry for losing my temper," Tom said to Mooglie. Hearing Tom's apology, Mooglie perked up once again.

'It's going to be more complicated than I thought. If Mooglie is considered the second weakest, I can't even imagine the strength of the other unit members,' Tom thought with a grim expression.

He just realized that conquering Mooglie's tribe was going to be more challenging than he initially believed. Unfortunately, he didn't have a choice. His only option, if he wanted to descend the mountain, would be to defeat the crystal creatures – something he clearly couldn't do. So, his only way forward was to gain the loyalty of Mooglie's tribe.

"Are there any other members of your tribe who were sent here with you?" Tom inquired.

Mooglie shook his head in response to Tom's question.

"Won't they send other members after you've been missing for nearly a month?"

For several minutes, Tom continued to question Mooglie about how their tribe functioned, especially how his special unit operated. Although he now understood Mooglie better than before, there were still some aspects he couldn't quite grasp.

Among the things he did learn was that, surely within a few days or even weeks, after realizing that Mooglie had been gone for so long, the members of his unit would send someone else to check on his well-being.

Another piece of information he obtained was that the creature to be sent for the check would likely be more powerful than Mooglie.

Despite the danger, Tom didn't back down or start worrying. The fact that a more powerful creature would be sent was a concern, but Tom had grown more powerful since his battle with Mooglie.

It might seem like, apart from the concealment technique, he hadn't learned anything else, but that was far from true. The control he now had over his etherium made him significantly stronger than before. He was confident that as long as the creature sent wasn't significantly stronger than Mooglie, he could defeat it.

***

Days passed with Tom training relentlessly to better use his time astralum. Currently, it seemed he had hit a wall and couldn't stop time for more than 20 seconds, and the activation radius of his astralum hadn't budged an inch.

Seeing that he wasn't making any progress in his time astralum mastery, Tom decided to train with Mooglie instead. The master and subordinate engaged in constant battles throughout the days.

In most cases, Tom managed to defeat Mooglie, but there were moments when he lost. The first time he lost, he thought Mooglie would stop serving him, but fortunately, that wasn't the case.

Anyway, as they awaited the day when the next member of Mooglie's tribe would arrive, Tom continued to spar with Mooglie to get used to fighting such a creature.

***

A few days later, Tom and Mooglie were perched on a tree branch, observing a monkey-like creature descending from the mountain's peak. This creature was similar to Mooglie in every aspect, except it was smaller.

Unlike Mooglie, this monkey-like creature held a makeshift spear. The spear's length was at least 2 meters, made of wood about 1.80 meters long, with a 20 cm blade.

Seeing the monkey-like creature descending, Tom glanced at Mooglie next to him and asked, "Where does he rank in your unit's hierarchy?"

Mooglie pointed at the pile of stones he had already arranged and indicated the third stone from the bottom.

"So, he's just one rank above you. That's good," said Tom with a relieved sigh. He was relieved because, according to him, this time his opponent wasn't significantly stronger than Mooglie.

"What's his astralum?"

Mooglie placed his hand in front of him and rotated it, mimicking a light breeze. Then he demonstrated how the motion intensified, creating a whirlwind, indicating the increasing control over wind.

"Uh... His astralum allows him to spin around? Funny astralum," Tom remarked. Mooglie playfully slapped his own face, showing his exasperation. Tom clearly understood what he wanted to explain but enjoyed teasing mooglie.

He then looked at Tom with a non-amused expression, causing Tom to burst into laughter.

"Okay, okay, I get it. His astralum lets him control the wind, right?" Tom said, wiping away tears from laughing.

After Mooglie nodded in agreement, Tom straightened up and prepared himself for an ambush as the creature approached.

He had no intention of fighting fairly, knowing that only a fool would do so in this forest. Tom activated his concealment technique and waited. The creature came closer and passed just beneath them, completely unaware.

As soon as it passed to the other side of the tree, Tom leaped onto the creature, concentrating his etherium at the sole of his feet. Just as his foot was about to make contact with the creature's head, it turned and countered with its spear.

Tom's foot and the monkey's spear clashed powerfully, sending shockwaves through the surrounding area.

Seeing that his surprise attack had failed, Tom used the monkey's spear as support and jumped backward.

Despite the failure of his ambush, Tom wasn't surprised. After all, the concealment technique he had used was one that all members of Mooglie's tribe mastered. It would have been absurd for a tribe member to fall for such a technique.

Tom glanced at his feet and realized he wasn't hurt. He thought, 'As expected, I can go against weapons just using Etherium.'

Since he didn't have any weapons with him, Tom had to figure out how to fight with his fists. His method was to imbue his muscles, tendons, and even his skeleton with Etherium in the part of his body he intended to use for attacks. This reduced the pain when delivering blows and made his punches powerful.

He could do this because of his training in mastering the concealment technique.

Of course he had learned how to create makeshift weapons during his training with Vista but had chosen not to use them.

The truth was that he enjoyed the feeling of punching someone. The adrenaline and excitement he felt were intoxicating. Moreover, throwing punches allowed him to release any stress he was feeling. He also loved the sensation of feeling an opponent's bones breaking.

In short, he enjoyed fighting like a brute.

Meanwhile, the monkey-like creature looked at Tom for a moment and without wasting time, swung his spear toward Tom.

Initially, Tom wondered what the movement was supposed to signify. But he didn't have to wonder for long, as he suddenly saw some kind of blade forming.

What astonished Tom was that the blade coming toward him was made of wind.

Gradually, the wind blade grew, and with each growth, its speed increased.

In the blink of an eye, a massive 5-meter blade, sharper than any weapon Tom had ever seen, rushed toward him at an astonishing speed!