Chapter 10: Alien worlds (2)

Since then, Nova had moved from one stage to another. After the amoeba stage, the next one was a beach bathed in morning light, where a fast, bird-like creature awaited. Nova used it as a way to train Cyre’s reflexes instead. While carrying her on his back and dodging the creature’s attacks, he asked Cyre to strike the fast-flying bird whenever it came at them. Over time, she improved steadily—her battle sense sharpened with each encounter.

...

In the next stage, under the serene night sky with a dim light illuminating the surroundings, they were welcomed by the echo of a metal song. The landscape was a rocky mountain, scattered with black rocks of various sizes. Sitting on one of the black rocks near the portal was a young woman playing a guitar. She wore dark clothes and pants, had long hair, and black eyeshadow around her eyes.

After some chatting, she mentioned that playing music was an effective way to lure the creatures to her, rather than wandering around to find them. It seemed she understood the importance of self-improvement.

When they offered to team up for survival, she turned them down, saying they were already strong enough and didn’t need help. At a time like this, they had to train themselves instead of relying on others.

Cyre insisted on teaming up, saying she wanted to sing songs during their journey. But the musician flatly refused. In the end, Nova had to comfort Cyre by promising to make a guitar for her later—and to sing with her himself.

As they walked away from the musician, Nova saw for himself that what the young woman had said was true. All around them were the corpses of creatures. Many had charged in, only to throw their lives away like fools.

Exploring the mountain, Nova saw nothing but gray ground and scattered black rocks. He didn’t encounter a single creature—until he arrived at the stairs.

...

The next stage unfolded in a dull daylight, high atop the branches of massive, towering green trees, each with a diameter of about four meters. Below them stretched a calm, sea-like flood of clear water with no visible bottom. The enemies here had flat, purple bodies as wide as a car wheel, with four tentacles used to jump between the trees. They could also coil around the trunks to slide downward in a spiraling motion—either to evade or launch surprise attacks. From each hollow line stretching from the tip of the tentacles to the center of the creature's body, it could fire long-range blasts of compressed energy powerful enough to slice through the massive trees horizontally.

As Nova evaded, carrying Cyre on his back, the massive tree that had been sliced fell with a huge splash. The fight began in earnest afterward. While Nova evaded and attacked the creature, he realized that his strikes could also slice through the massive trees. Nova's attacks had indeed impressive power, but more than that, the trees themselves were fragile.

Many trees were felled, and massive splashes erupted from both Nova's and the creature's attacks. The space where Nova could evade was shrinking as the trees continued to be cut down by both sides. If this kept up, he would risk falling into the water.

Nova had a bad feeling that if he fell into the water, it would be the end. Many of the creatures so far had somehow made use of their environment. In fact, while Nova was sliding down to evade an attack, another creature suddenly lunged from beneath the water and, in a flash, appeared in front of him. Its tentacle slashed at Nova as he tried to dodge. The strike cut deep into the side of his stomach, causing blood to pour out rapidly.

But it wasn’t beyond his control. If it was only that much, Nova could stop the bleeding by channeling his energy to seal the wound.

The creature was definitely harder to deal with this time—its evasion was top-tier. Still, Nova managed to kill it. However, in his surprise at seeing the massive tree sliced apart, he had forgotten to use the new equipment given by the amoeba.

Fortunately, Nova had learned the purple creature’s movement patterns. With Cyre’s help, he began to defeat them one by one with relative ease. He also made use of the amoeba shield—a camouflage defense tool that tricked the charging creatures into slamming their heads straight into it, killing themselves in the process.

After exploring and defeating many of the purple creatures, Nova finally arrived in front of the stairs. In there, while Cyre played in the water, Nova hid and began working on creating a weapon and guitar. He decided to dissect one of the purple creatures, planning to use its muscle fibers to make guitar strings. The trees in this stage served as the body for the guitar.

Luckily, since it was an alien world, the muscle fibers were surprisingly durable. Somehow, Nova crafted the guitar. The sound wasn’t perfect—slightly off—but it was good enough to make Cyre happy.

After finishing his work, Nova and Cyre spent some time playing in the water. They swam, jumped from high ground, and held their breath, enjoying whatever they could do while in the water.

Nova dived deep as he jumped from a high ground. Below, deep in the water, he encountered another creature. It was small—about the size of a nail—transparent, and jellyfish-like, but with a long, slender body instead of the typical round shape of a jellyfish.

Nova slashed at it in reflex. The creature was cut in two but didn’t retaliate. As Nova took a closer look, he noticed that both halves continued to move on their own, and each returned to its original size and shape, now as two separate creatures. Intrigued, Nova slashed at them again, and this time, the two creatures became four.

An idea sparked in Nova's mind. He decided to call them Hydra and planned to use them as a source of food. He stored one of the creatures in his water bag.

After a satisfying rest and some play, they moved on to the next stage.

In the next stage, under the normal daylight of a forest-like surrounding, Nova showed the guitar to Cyre. Excited, Cyre jumped and hugged Nova around his neck, dangling there as she showered him with praise, squeezing him tighter.

Afterward, she sat on Nova's shoulders, swinging her legs back and forth. Nova played the guitar while they explored the new stage, singing and humming together throughout the day.

One creature appeared, drawn by the sound of their singing. Slightly startled, Nova instinctively channeled his energy into the guitar. Just like the purple creature’s long-range attack, a burst of compressed energy shot out from the strings, striking down the approaching creature. The guitar had become a weapon, surprising both Nova and Cyre.

Later, Nova and Cyre encountered another person. But upon seeing them singing and dancing joyfully, the man glared at them. Nova, carrying Cyre on his shoulders, walked over, offering the man some meat and water. Then, without a word, Nova sat quietly beside him.

The man, having lost the battle of endurance, began to talk to Nova about many things. He shared how he had lost his friends and couldn’t reunite with his family. He cried after this. He had come so far, yet the future felt unreachable with how the monsters kept growing stronger.

As they spoke, Cyre began to sing to cheer the man, and Nova joined in, playing his guitar along with her. The man was touched—and he cried even louder. But after a few moments, he calmed down, and a smile began to appear on his face.

As the man continued his story, Nova learned that he had relied solely on his inner skills to confront the enemies, and all of his knives were already broken. In a way, it was even more impressive than what Nova and Cyre had done. He had basically fought fire with a knife—without using water or anything that could weaken the flames.

Thus, Nova shared information about alien parts that could be used as weapons. He also gave the man some of his own weapons and rations.

Then, together, they fought their way to the stairs. Fortunately, the man met with another of his friends.

Both sides understood the importance of improving their own skills, especially after coming this far. Therefore, the man and his friend chose a different screen on the portal, and they parted ways.

Nova met many people and passed through many stages after that. He also created many new weapons throughout the different stages, ever since helping the depressed man.

In the self-made bag he had crafted from tree bark, Nova carried many weapons—including the very first batch he had made. He had multiple spare knives, including the ones made from the stretched arms and the projectile knife from the fast-flying bird. There was also a water container, rations, his guitar, a staff-like weapon that could suck in anything nearby with wind suction, the hydra creature, a telekinesis stick, some long-range weapons, and the amoeba shield—which they had nearly lost once after it camouflaged with the surrounding.

Since they already had various types of knives and a few long-range weapons, they decided to store the first creature’s head in the bag as well. Unlike the knives, the head wasn’t as easy or convenient to use.

Besides the weapons, Nova also felt that his physical skills had fully stabilized. He could maintain perfect evasion and precise control over his body for long periods, just as he willed.

However, he started to notice that the energy inside him was gradually dispersing. This continued for several days, until eventually, he fell sick—leaving Cyre alone to protect them both.