The System

CH- 85: What is edible? (I).

     Tetsu didn't so much conquer his social awkwardness or abandon his childhood dreams as he chose to focus on the twenty other thoughts occupying his mind, dismissing those of lesser significance.

As the group submerged further into the river, they scowled at the newcomers' expressionless faces. Amidst many beauty queens, not a single one, nor their quantity, captivated a man.

They believed he must have experienced more than his fair share of pickings back on Earth.

A smaller Blobfish, at a distance, protruded its mucus-covered head above the water, poised for an attack.

Tina, the sole other individual vigilant of lurking beasts, caught sight of the hideous fish's snort. Before redirecting her attention to Tetsu, who was lost in a daydream, she warned him of the impending danger just as a projectile hurtled into the river.

*!BOOM!*

An immense explosion erupted beneath the water's surface.

The fish's aim went astray as an arrow pierced its eyes, and the recoil from the fish's skill disintegrated its head into pieces.

"Must always have a failsafe," Tetsu sighed.

The first arrow was preserved, thanks to the fish's eyes absorbing most of the momentum, while the second arrow, despite having a better cushion, was obliterated in the explosion.

"Ah! My streak of bad luck returns."

"He didn't hesitate for a second. It showed up and was gone. Just like that," Tina stares in astonishment at Tetsu. "I didn't even witness him take any action. What's with this guy? He dispatches two level six intellectual creatures without breaking a sweat."

"I suggest you head back," Tetsu mumbles while gnawing on the rock-hard Blobfish scales. "Take this fellow with you if possible," he gestures toward the other fish in the water.

"What are we supposed to do with that?" a girl exclaims.

"Protection, sustenance, intelligence, practice, storage, refuge, and progress comes to mind. You can figure out more on the way," Tetsu shrugged and waved them off.

"Is he shooing us away? Us? All of us, right?"

*!BOOM!*

"Now what?" Tetsu mumbled with a mouthful of fish meat.

The Blobfish erupted like a volcano, ejecting naked men instead of lava. The cluster of men bathing upstream had all been engulfed by the second beast, and none seemed to have suffered harm.

"You couldn't even delay or alert us before two beasts swallowed you fools," Tina berated.

"Our weapons were left on shore," an elite defended.

"Left your brains behind too?" Tina retorted.

Before the ungrateful men could escalate the situation, several stones pelted them from all directions, rendering them unconscious. If they had no injuries before, they sure had many now.

"What was that?" the girls braced themselves for a confrontation.

"Sorry!" Tetsu shouldered the blame.

He triggered runes on pebbles further away upon noticing the bulging flesh of the fish. They gained momentum before the explosion, and Tetsu had prearranged an assault on whatever emerged, or to use [Pave Path] to aid the group's escape.

As the humans burst out and the women recognized them, Tetsu forgot to deactivate the runes, and he didn't warn them before, because, with increasing fatigue, he was neither capable of running nor explaining why they should flee.