Chapter 39: Sense Overload, it's fucking painful!
The entire group of six were currently within a restaurant near the central plaza, sitting around a round table covered in a white blanket to give it a clean atmosphere. Everyone was eating their own meals at their own pace, since there was no hurry at all to do something that any living being enjoyed, which was eating good food. Besides, while it may seem expensive considering Alice's hunger, the total price didn't even reach 500 Gold, which was easy for Victor to pay.
However, Victor merely stared at the dish in front of him with a depressed expression. He didn't really feel any hunger, for some reason. Maybe he still felt disgusted at the memory of the aftereffects of his single kick…
"Are you going to eat that?" Alice asked as she pointed to Victor's roasted steak. He sighed and pushed the dish closer to her.
He didn't really feel like eating now…
Alice didn't give out any thanks as she immediately stuffed her face with the steak. Victor merely grasped a cup of water in front of him and drank from it.
The taste felt so horrible that there was no way this was clean water for him, but Victor still digested the water and put down the cup afterwards. He put his head over one hand as his body relaxed on the table.
"Are you okay, Victor?" Luka asked with a genuinely worried tone. How could he not worry, after all? Victor was the one who saved him multiple times, and he even guided him in the correct way ever since they first met.
"...I don't even know that myself." Victor replied with a tired tone, the recent events were really pulling him on the edge. He ultimately let go of the cup of water he was still holding and stood up. "I'm going to the bathroom."
After saying that, he walked to the restroom at the side of the restaurant by himself. From his inventory, he retrieved a pack of cigarettes and pulled out one, before sticking it between his lips and lit it with his lighter.
He sucked in some tobacco before he puffed it out in a white cloudy smoke. Victor sighed and removed the shortened cigarette from his mouth for some moments. "Goddammit…"
Killing a person… That was something he really wanted to avoid doing in this world. Even though the backlash wasn't as bad as actually puking on the ground, it left a certain mark in his mind that he couldn't remove at all.
Yeah, the man is a pedophile who only deserves beatings according to many people, but it was hard putting aside his emotions and thinking rationally… Even pedophiles are still living beings, and he hasn't even killed an animal in his life, not to talk about actual people.
Even after a dozen of minutes, the sensation and memory of his first murder was still imprinted in his brain like it has just happened… Should he buy something to make him lose his own memory? Is there anything in his mind that corresponds to that? Maybe some kind of alzheimer-inducing medicine…?
"...What the fuck am I thinking about?" Victor snarked out with a venomous tone that was aimed to himself. Forgetting about committing murder… That isn't something that can be simply pushed away; he did it, end of the story.
He just has to control his own power later… Yeah, that's it. This bad sensation will come to pass soon enough, he just has to wait until then…
It would be idiotic trying to forget about his first murder when there are many chances that he will have to commit another one in the future. Sex isn't the only thing some monsters want, there are a couple of them that want to eat his flesh and bones at the same time, and he can't act like a pussy after killing them.
This made him remember something about his old world, specifically about superman and the 'world of paper'... Was it like that? He isn't a fan of DC so he doesn't know much stuff about that. Now that he has a stronger power than average, he has to be careful when dealing with weak people…
To push his train of thought elsewhere, Victor began to do a re-check of the system, starting with the Status Screen.
[Name: Victor]
[Surname: Luis]
[Age: 17-04-06]
[Gender: Male]
[Race: Human]
[Magic Tier: E]
[Body Tier: E]
[Spirit Tier: F]
[Mind Tier: E]
Apparently his body leveled up to E tier, which was probably caused by the Enhanced Strength ability he recently bought. However, the spirit was still to F… How is he supposed to increase that? What even is a 'Spirit'?
Does he even have some kind of soul? Ghosts certainly exist here, but what about him? He has a brain and a heart that do everything, so there shouldn't be any need for him to have a soul, supposed that he has one to begin with.
He shut down the status screen and reached for the Skill List next.
[Skill List]
[Telekinesis(Tier 4)]
[Optimal Finesse(Skill List)]
[Advanced Driving Intuition]
[Advanced Medical Intuition]
[Advanced Jeet Kune Do Intuition]
[Advanced Tae Kwon Do Intuition]
[Peak-Human Health]
[Enhanced Strength]
[Enhanced Agility]
[Nigh-Enhanced Regeneration]
Right now, he has… 120'671 Gold, with a recent income obtained shortly after meeting with everyone in the back alley. Victor went through the shop with something in his mind, and soon he found what was looking for, Enhanced Senses at the price of 100'000 Gold.
With this, there shouldn't be a second case like this…
Upon buying that, all of a sudden, Victor collapsed on the floor as his brain went haywire. Too much information! IT HURTS!
"ARGH!!" Victor groaned in pain and clasped his head with both hands. Someone who was already in the bathroom worriedly approached Victor and tried to help him.
"Hey, are you okay, man?" The helper touched Victor's shoulder, but in reaction Victor spasmed away from the man due to the overload of sensation he was feeling with a mere touch. His quick movements caused the wooden floor below him to crack, which greatly surprised the man both from Victor's sudden movements in reaction to his contact and the broken floor.
"L-Leave me alone… too loud… I… I'm fine..." Victor's stuttering tone put a lot of pity on the man, but seeing that there didn't seem to be a way for him to help Victor, he ultimately decided to walk out of the bathroom and do as Victor said, leaving him alone.
Meanwhile, Victor was currently closing his eyes and staying crouched down in a single spot. The information his brain was receiving visibly lessened, but it was still painful to deal with. Right now, he was pathetically shaking on the broken floor just because of a mistake he made.
He should have bought Enhanced Mind first… It would have lessened the aftereffects of Enhanced Senses. Alas, he stupidly bought the latter first…
It took around half an hour before something changed. Luka, worried about Victor taking so long in the bathroom, also walked in and immediately saw the person he was looking for kneeling on the ground.
"Victor?!" Luka worryingly approached Victor, but Victor simply shouted back. "Shut up! It's fucking loud!"
"???" Luka stopped on his steps and looked at Victor with a weirded expression. "What is going on, Victor?"
"Ugh… Just me being a dumb idiot, nothing new…" Victor muttered back with a whisper as he gradually stood up on his feet. Just with those movements, Victor could feel his body doing countless tiny movements to adjust his position: stability, holding his upper body with his legs, balancing his body perpendicularly to the gravity, the position of his legs, the attrition of his feet on the ground…
His sight was finally getting used to the new change, and now he was actually able to see so much stuff that it seems unbelievable. He could literally see the texture of the walls, the rays of light contrasting with the shadows also appeared to him in a different way, like he could actually see the light as it is instead of it being invisible.
As for his ears, they were also augmented to a level beyond what is humanly possible, he could hear Luka's heartbeat even from this distance, mixed with the thunderous voices coming from the dining hall. Speaking of which, he really needs to buy something to block that sound.
Victor scrolled through his store once again and used a small part of his remaining 20'671 Gold to buy Sense Regulation for a cheap 15'000 Gold. Thanks to Optimal Finesse, he was able to understand how to use Sense Regulation immediately and considerably lowered some of his senses to a normal level: Touch, Sight, Hearing, Smell, Taste, Extrasensorial Energetic Sense, Extrasensorial Electric Sense, Extrasensorial Magnetic Sense, and the Extrasensorial Thermic Sense.
As for his Balance and Proprioception, they are still at an enhanced level because they don't hurt at all and are actually useful for his movements.
Upon returning to his familiar senses, Victor sighed in relief and massaged his forehead in pain. "Wow, that was a bad experience…"
"What happened, Victor?" Luka asked with a worried tone after seeing Victor returning to normal. Victor simply sighed and replied with an exasperated tone. "I told you, it's just me being stupid. I accidentally increased my senses and my brain almost exploded with information… Let's go, I'm getting hungry."
"..." Luka sighed as he walked with Victor outside the bathroom while Victor sold the half-consumed cigarette for 3 Gold Coins. The smell of tobacco was irritating when his nose was enhanced, and that brought the opposite effect of what he wanted to achieve with smoking.
The two reached their table, and just as Victor was sitting on his own spot, he stole a quick glance from Alice, Granberia, and Eva. While he was still overwhelmed by his augmented senses, he had achieved a new sense, Energy Detection. That had been his main target, so he would have no problems finding others in the case they get lost.
During the time he was in pain from sensory overloading, he had registered those three's energy signatures, and… well… They were massive.
Granberia's energy signature was really calm, and surprisingly smooth like butter. Maybe that was because she had mastered her art of using a sword to the point of attaining a Serene Mind. But even if it was as calm as a glass of water, it was also overwhelming like a desert, so big that it was immeasurable.
Eva's energy signature gave off a different texture. While Granberia's was calm and dark, fitting a monster, Eva's signature was more like a blinding light that could burn out people's retinas if they weren't careful. Was that the result of developing the full potential of a Hero?
Then there is Alice… Well, she is a different matter altogether… Her energy wasn't calm like Granberia's, and it was certainly not 'weightless' like Eva's. Alice's energy signature was made of a raw and unadulterated destructive aura that suffocated the surroundings, like actual space.
It was comparable to a sitting behemoth. While it gave off a dangerous presence that wouldn't leave any survivor if unleashed, it was still not doing anything but sitting there, and Alice's presence was just like that. Even while it carried that kind of destructive presence, in the end, that was still her passive state. Just her presence alone was sufficient to suppress both Granberia and Eva, but she probably couldn't control all of that yet.
Those three certainly left an impression on Victor… Speaking of which, he finally understood what they meant when they said that his energy signature was weird. Unlike those three, he had literally nothing on him, like a transparent cloak.
Even the people surrounding them had a tiny flare that made Victor count them as 'people', but he had nothing, he was just like a corpse if you ignored his body temperature and bio-electricity.
Victor took a deep breath before he turned his head around and called a waiter. "Sir, can you come here?"
The waiter stopped on his steps and approached Victor's table. "Is there something you need, dear customers?"
"I want to order a Paella just for me, bring a bottle of beer too."
"Certainly, they will arrive soon." The waiter told Victor before he headed to the kitchen. Meanwhile, Victor turned back to the table and stretched his back with a small yawn escaping from his mouth.
"You seem to have recovered." Alice commented upon noticing Victor's more relaxed attitude.
"I just needed some time to think by myself. Anyway, there is something we have to talk about…" Victor replied back before he shifted to a more serious tone. "We will go to Enrika first."
"Hmm? Why the sudden decision?" Luka curiously asked while Penny was still ignoring everyone and eating her kid's meal. However, Alice understood the reason already.
"Is it for Penny?"
"Mu…?" Penny cutely lifted her face with her puffed cheeks upon being mentioned, while Victor nodded.
"It will be too dangerous for her if she follows us further, and it would be better for her to stay in a place where she can really be safe."
"What is it?" Penny curiously asked Victor, and Victor faced her with an hesitating expression. Penny doesn't really have a mother anymore, even if she thinks otherwise… Well, at least there is a person he could trust with her in Enrika.
"...We will take you to your new home at Enrika. You remember the place that your mom told you about, right?"
"Yeah!" Penny enthusiastically nodded. "Does that mean that I will see Mama again?"
"Ehh…" Victor trailed off in hesitation before he replied back. "I guess… We will see once we arrive there."
"Yay!"
A sigh escaped from Victor and Luka, two of the three that truly knew of what happened for real. They could only hope that everything goes well.
"In that case… After going to Enrika, we can visit the Irina Mountains to see the monster thieves, and then-"
"We'll head to Iliasport?" Alice impatiently asked, showing her clear annoyance at staying in this continent any longer. But much to her disappointment, Luka shook his head. "I heard that there are some problems with slug monsters in Midas Village, so I want to see what is going on there."
"Midas Village?" Victor asked with a curious expression. If he remembered correctly, Midas Village should be a place exclusive to Monster Girl Quest: Paradox, and it also presented a problem regarding slug girls and their invasion in the village. Because the person that usually dealt with them was too old, the job was left to Luka and his party. But that, again, was exclusive to the sequel of the original trilogy, it was never present here.
But to be fair, Luka also wasn't managing any inn in the original trilogy… Well, at least, this was still something he could control a bit considering it belonged to the Paradox sequel, unlike Eva's unexpected existence that came from nowhere.
"Midas Village is a famous village in Ilias Continent known for their gold-based equipment forged by their blacksmiths. Even though the mine supposedly is dried out, some people still go inside to see if they can find some gold in there to let the blacksmiths forge new weapons and armors for the heroes and adventurers. It is also known that every year there is an infestation of Slug Girls… I assume that is why you want to go there, right?" Eva explained to Victor before she looked at Luka, who nodded in return.
"Yes, that's right."
Alice sighed in exasperation. "Why do you have to go through so many detours? Don't you get bored?"
"We got a car for that reason specifically, no?" Victor pointed out. "We would be staying here for an entire month if we didn't have a faster traveling method to use that aren't our own feet."
"*Sigh* I guess…" Alice muttered. "I just hope to leave from here as soon as possible. The presence of that woman spreading all over this continent is annoying as hell… I can't even go to eat a snack without being reminded that this is Ilias' territory."
Right now, the Paella and a cold beer arrived in front of Victor. The waiter slightly bowed at Victor and told him: "Have a nice meal."
"Thank you." Victor replied as he faced his Paella with a smile. He used his own fingers to open the tap of the bottle and began to put some beer on a glass, before he looked at everyone else. "Do you want some?"
Surprisingly, nobody accepted.
"My mother prohibited me from drinking, so I'll keep that going." Luka replied.
"It has been the same in the Fateburn Family." That was Alice's excuse.
"I have problems with alcohol…" Eva replied with some hesitation.
"Alcohol and such will cloud my judgement, so I will have to refuse your offer." That's Granberia's answer.
"...You people are pathetic…" Victor replied as he casually drank beer from his glass. Not taking in account Penny for obvious reasons, everybody else has problems with drinking alcohol? That was unexpected and hilarious.
After gulping all of the glass' content in a single shot, Victor spoke. "So, summarizing everything, we'll head to Enrika, Irina Mountains, Midas Village, and then to Iliasport?"
"That's about right." Luka nodded in return.
Victor hummed in understanding before he proceeded to have his fill with his own lunch. The total of what they all ate had been 130 Gold, but it was something that Victor could easily pay for even when he is as 'poor' as he is now.
After paying for lunch, they all proceeded to leave Iliasburg behind their shoulders and head to the southern gate.
Unbeknownst to everyone in the party, a blue-colored figure was watching them all from the edge of a building, sitting on the roof.
"Fufufu~ So they will head to Enrika, huh?" Black Alice commented with an entertained smile, wishing to see the encounter between this group and a particular person that is currently living in the mentioned hidden village.
However, she has to be careful, even for someone like her it is dangerous to carelessly enter Enrika. After all, the third strongest person in history lives there. If she gets detected by 'her', then even she might not be able to come out alive from the encounter.
And yet, she just wanted to see what would happen if that person and this strange group came in contact with each other…
…
Victor Luis' (future) Trivia Book: Sheep Girl
Sheep Girls are popular Beast-type Monsters that are also part of human society, although partially. They are known for two reasons in particular: Their famous wool used for luxurious cloths and such, and their infamous habit of drinking abusive amounts of alcohol.
Although they don't have fangs and claws, their legs are quite strong, allowing them to deliver powerful impacts with their horned head. They can also be verbally abusive both to themselves and to everyone else.
Because they are always holding a bottle of wine, sake, or beer, there have never been moments where they are sober, always chugging down their alcohol like air. Even though they rarely harm anybody, they can be dangerous when they finally enter a drunken stupor.
There have been cases where their drunken aggression has led them to rape men, but they will stop halfway through because they get too drunk and collapse asleep on the man's chest. You can almost always find one in a bar.
At north-east of Ilias Continent, there is an island specifically holding Sheep Girls. It is quite a famous place for merchants because they sell their wool and other products made out of their own wool from there. There is no strong monster, no treasure, just Sheep Girls.
They all also show favoritism towards Yamatai's Sake for some reason… Still, don't take their words for granted, they could literally form sentences made from distorted words from the entire dictionary pulled from at random. They don't make sense of what they speak, and you shouldn't listen to them trying to make sense, because they don't.
Weekly Power Status
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Ranking 
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