Chapter 36: Ultra Lightning—Young Fox

After constructing his character, Vinigo's strength was now enough to wield the double-handed axe that had previously been a bit too heavy for him. The great axe came crashing down, blood sprayed, and the giant shark’s sharp face was nearly cleaved open with a single swing, exposing the bloody muscle and rows of gleaming white teeth along its jaw.

“Not that powerful, after all,” Vinigo thought to himself.

With a splash, the giant shark broke through the water, furious, lunging at Vinigo.

“Tsunami!” Vinigo raised his axe, and instantly a torrent surged beneath him, flinging the giant shark away.

In the FFTA system, a character’s initial mana is zero; each action accumulates one unit of mana, defined as ten units—Tsunami and Lightning require eight, while the powerful Super Lightning requires eighteen. For a Viking, there was no need to worry about mana consumption.

You only needed to worry that your magical strength was too low…

Vinigo shook his head. If a black mage cast Super Lightning, he was confident the giant shark would be killed outright; but as a Viking… a Super Lightning might merely wound it. And a wounded giant shark still had enough strength to knock him off the whale’s back and bite him to death.

“Ramen,” Vinigo gently pressed his foot against the little whale’s back. Ramen understood, accelerating forward in the direction the giant shark rolled, opening its mouth wide and biting down.

Its teeth had not yet fully grown, but as a sky-sea giant whale, even a juvenile possessed astonishing strength, and biting force was the greatest strength of most creatures. With a single bite from Ramen, even the tough-skinned giant shark was left a mangled mess of blood and flesh.

Vinigo leaped onto the shark’s back, swinging his axe fiercely and carving a fresh wound. Before the giant shark could turn, Vinigo raised the axe again—a stream of light surged across the blade, and he hacked horizontally.

Steal. While inflicting physical damage, he would gain a certain amount of gold… Vinigo wanted to test whether this worked on creatures without any gold.

He was, of course, disappointed. This wasn’t a video game… His special ability was to build game characters, but he was in a real world, one with its own laws.

“Ramen!” Vinigo shouted. Ramen surfaced beneath him, nudging him onto its back. Vinigo steadied himself, raised his axe, and struck with Lightning.

The giant shark had barely surfaced before it was struck by lightning, momentarily stunned. But as mentioned before, a Viking’s magical strength was pitifully low—even Super Lightning was only so effective, let alone a weaker version.

But immediately, Ramen rammed into the shark, sending it tumbling again. Ramen, in high spirits, continued to butt the giant shark until it was pushed above the water’s surface—using its floating ability, it gripped the shark’s tail and lifted the entire creature.

“Well done,” Vinigo laughed.

Out of water, the giant shark was just a lump of flesh.

Ramen happily circled the fishing boat, and Vinigo took the chance to jump aboard.

Soon, the giant shark exhausted itself struggling, gradually suffocating. Only then did Ramen toss it back into the water, shaking its head and tail as it returned to the boat, revealing its big head and opening its mouth to Vinigo.

Vinigo praised it, reaching out to stroke Ramen’s giant head. He untied his bundle, found the prepared dried meat, and fed it to Ramen.

“There, that’s our target island,” Sophie gazed into the distance, reminding him.

“How will they welcome us, I wonder? I’m quite looking forward to it,” Vinigo chuckled softly.

He soon regretted it.

A group of giant sharks—the warlord on the island had sent out twenty or so, each not much different from the one they’d just fought!

“Damn it, abandon the boat!” Vinigo shouted. He and Sophie worked together to secure the harness and the bundle beneath it onto Ramen’s back, then pulled Honey aboard.

Ramen’s size was still not quite large enough; three people standing together was rather cramped, so Vinigo and Sophie had to embrace each other, letting Honey sit on their shoulders, each gripping the harness to secure themselves.

Ramen slowly ascended, leaving the sea surface, floating five meters above the water, proudly gazing down at the giant sharks unable to fly beneath him.

The giant sharks ignored this airborne feast, instead rushing at the dying shark, fiercely squabbling over it.

Vinigo snorted coldly, signaled Sophie to hold Honey tight, freed his right hand, and swung his giant axe downward.

Super Lightning!

Having waited so long, his mana was finally full—four consecutive Super Lightning strikes thundered down, and the sea surface was immediately awash with electric light.

Even with weak magical strength, Super Lightning’s damage was relatively high, and four strikes in succession accumulated considerable power. Moreover, the salt-rich seawater was a perfect conductor…

Twenty sharks, swept away in one fell swoop.

“I have to say, being able to fly is wonderful…” Vinigo sighed.

A sudden sensation stirred in him—he felt as though he was on the verge of a breakthrough. And then, he broke through.

He had already accumulated considerable “experience.” Now, under the aura of fear bestowed by the Lord of Wishes, and having killed so many enemies who feared him, Vinigo leveled up.

Level 20—a bottleneck. After breaking through, Vinigo vaguely sensed that his special ability had gained something new.

He used the Mirror of Self to observe, immersing his mind in every cell, every fragment of spirit, every slender thread of memory.

It was a difficult-to-describe ability. Simply put, on the foundation of character construction, he could now make limited “adjustments” to the characters.

These adjustments could be positive or negative. There were many restrictions, but at least, it made Vinigo’s abilities more flexible.

He could weaken characters previously impossible to construct, making them accessible. Or he could remedy severe flaws in a given character, and so on.

“Hehehe… Even if it’s just a bit of evolution, from a certain perspective, my ability now has the faint beginnings of ‘breaking the rules.’ I can’t wait to see what strength I’ll have at level one hundred,” Vinigo murmured coldly.

Thanks to Ramen’s efforts, the three landed safely on the island.

At the shore, a figure stood.

Heavy full-body armor, a menacing double-handed greatsword, a fully enclosed helmet beneath which only a pair of gleaming eyes could be seen—non-human eyes.

“Invaders! Begone!” The voice from within the armor was a muffled metallic rasp.

“Ultimate Knight? As expected from a warlord—even has such a pet,” Vinigo marveled.

The Ultimate Knight had enough power to kill Vinigo in a single blow; even Sophie could only grit her teeth and endure before it.

“Honey, this fight depends on you,” Vinigo whispered.

“What should I do? Enslave?” Honey tilted her head, speaking quietly.

“Remove hostility. Keep removing hostility,” Vinigo whispered back.

“That’s no fun at all,” Honey pouted.

“Begin!” Vinigo smiled softly, charging forward.

Sophie moved left, Vinigo right, Honey remained still, and Ramen stayed in front of her—a whale is among the smartest mammals, and the sky-sea giant whales of the Elemental Realm were even smarter. It understood Vinigo’s command and stayed to protect Honey.

A mountain-style field pack lay half open, slouched to one side; upon closer inspection, the two waist pouches inside had somehow been strapped to Vinigo and Sophie’s waists. Vinigo always believed that only those well-prepared could win wars, and he practiced what he preached.

Sophie’s greatsword slashed down; her martial skills had always been straightforward, honest, refined through countless battles, never a wasted motion. Power, speed, accuracy, anticipation… For her age, Sophie had achieved near perfection.

Bang—a bottle shattered before the Ultimate Knight, and the mixed-colored liquid instantly vaporized upon contact with air, spreading thick, mysterious fumes. This five-colored mist was clearly imbued with magical power—a power that intoxicated.

A hallucinogen, created by an eccentric scholar’s “purified alchemy,” extracted from mandrake, poppy, and other herbs. Vinigo had prepared it for opponents who were muscle-bound even in the brain, so Honey’s mental magic could be more effective.

Remove hostility!

The Ultimate Knight was momentarily dazed—under Honey’s peak-level magic, the effect was outstanding, and with the hallucinogen’s potent influence, even the Ultimate Knight was affected.

After hostility was removed, the Ultimate Knight’s attack power would drop dramatically; even when seeing Vinigo and Sophie charging, he did not immediately counterattack as usual, but simply stood there, stunned.

A razor’s edge between heaven and hell.

Had the Ultimate Knight not been so much stronger than Vinigo, that moment of daze would have been enough for Vinigo to secure victory.

The great axe smashed onto the Ultimate Knight’s helmet, ringing with an abnormally loud hum. The Ultimate Knight immediately broke free from the spell’s influence, swinging his sword in return.

Clang! Sophie’s greatsword struck simultaneously; as the two blades met, Sophie was sent flying by the overwhelming force, nearly knocked over.

She quickly shifted her weight, retreating and cushioning herself back a dozen steps before stopping. Vinigo seized the opportunity to escape from the Ultimate Knight’s blade, raised his axe, and swung forward.

Tsunami!

Tsunami could only be used where there was abundant water, dealing damage through water impact, and also reducing the enemy’s mana—unfortunately, the Ultimate Knight hardly depended on such things.

Vinigo took a quick breath. This enemy truly deserved its “Ultimate” title. It seemed he was facing the strongest opponent of his life.

But he would win—he was certain of it!