Idle Mode

"Well, I don't have anywhere to sell it right now anyway, and I've got plenty of inventory space, so I'll deal with it later."

Just as Spirit-sama said that, a turtle arrived. It might qualify as a Great Turtle, but it only came up to waist height — this thing would have to gnaw quite a bit to eat a person.

It approached the girl with sluggish movements. Its pointed beak looked like it could gnaw flesh down to the bone.

"Oh, a tutorial. 'Defeat the Baby Turtle', huh. Hmm hmm. Come to think of it, I was about to be eaten by the Great Turtle, wasn't I? Take that! And that! Become my experience points!"

Spirit-sama fearlessly charged at the turtle and started pummeling it.

… The turtle reluctantly withdrew its head into its shell. Spirit-sama kept pummeling away.

"No good. I'm not dealing any damage… Oh, but it looks like my martial arts proficiency is gaining experience, so let's keep going."

And so, for the next three hours, Spirit-sama continued punching the turtle.

Tria floated as a halo, watching the scene. The sound of Spirit-sama's fists hitting the shell echoed in a steady rhythm.

The turtle had withdrawn its head at first, but eventually seemed to give up and just endured with its head out.

"Yeah, martial arts experience does go up faster when hitting enemies… Oh crap. It's already midnight, and I have work tomorrow, so I should log out soon… What do I do about this? I still can't beat it."

When Spirit-sama muttered that, Tria felt a little anxious. If Spirit-sama left, she'd be alone again. What if the villagers came back?

"Oh right. I can set auto-mode behavior during logout. Okay then, Tria — keep training, and keep hitting this thing's shell until you can beat it easily. If it attacks, run."

With those words, Spirit-sama's consciousness faded. Trading places with Spirit-sama, Tria's consciousness returned to her body.

… Training. Meaning she should continue the earlier movements while also punching this turtle's shell.

This body and heart already belonged to Spirit-sama. She just had to follow instructions.

Crouch punch, standing punch, jump punch. Crouch punch, standing punch, jump punch.

Just like before, she felt almost no fatigue. The Baby Turtle stayed withdrawn in its shell, unmoving. She just had to keep this up as Spirit-sama said. If it attacks, run. That was all.

Night deepened. The moon peeked through the clouds, illuminating the shrine's former site. Shattered wooden fragments lay scattered, and among them, only Tria silently repeated her movements.

Morning came. Spirit-sama still hadn't returned. Tria continued her training as always. No sleepiness, no hunger.

Crouch punch, standing punch, jump punch. Crouch punch, standing punch, jump punch.

Since Spirit-sama wasn't controlling her now, she was continuing this of her own will.

Repeating the movements over and over. Tria thought she might be getting a little tired, but it was just a feeling — nothing more.

Right. She wasn't physically tired. So she just had to keep moving her body for Spirit-sama. Tria had offered everything to Spirit-sama, so she would do as Spirit-sama said.

Sometime past noon, a change finally appeared.

Her punches, which had been making clearly ineffective "pok pok" sounds against the shell, now made powerful "thunk thunk" sounds.

Something in her body had changed. Clearly. Tria felt happy, thinking she finally understood a little of what Spirit-sama wanted.

And then.

—CRACK!!

The sound of something hard breaking… Did I break a bone? she thought, but no.

Looking, she saw a crack had formed in the Baby Turtle's shell.

"Ah!"

Tria was surprised. She had finally dealt damage to the Baby Turtle — the same turtle that had taken no damage until now.

She wasn't the only one surprised. So was the Baby Turtle whose shell had been cracked.

The Baby Turtle tried to flee in shock. It extended its limbs and head from the shell and began moving sluggishly. — Trying to run? What should she do in this case? Spirit-sama had said to run if it attacked. But nothing had been said about what to do if it tried to escape.

… Which means? Right. Just keep hitting it. Tria continued punching the fleeing Baby Turtle's shell. Only the shell. Because Spirit-sama had told her to hit the shell.

Until when? She'd been told. Until she could defeat Baby Turtles easily.

Crack, crunch — the cracks in the Baby Turtle's shell grew larger.

Could she do this? The Baby Turtle was still trying to escape. It was harder to hit when it moved. But she continued. Punching. Then more punching.

Crouch punch, standing punch, jump punch. Crouch punch, standing punch, jump punch.

She kept hitting three spots, cracks spreading from three points, widening.

Creak — CRACK!!!

Finally, the shell broke. The Baby Turtle had misjudged. It should have counterattacked or fled faster before this happened.

Having no natural enemies in this area had dulled its survival instincts. The Baby Turtle's misfortune was that nothing had ever picked a fight with it before — doing so meant picking a fight with the Great Turtle, after all. The fact that Tria had only hit its shell rather than its softer limbs or head had also contributed to its misjudgment.

The Baby Turtle with a broken shell — it didn't know what that meant. Inside a turtle's shell are soft organs, and a broken shell left them completely exposed. A single hit there would be fatal.

"Ah."

And then, Tria's fist finally punched through the shell and destroyed the organs within.

The Baby Turtle lost consciousness without understanding what had happened, still confused, unable to even cry out. All that remained was death.

Its limbs went limp, its belly hit the ground, and it stopped moving. Its head hung limply, still extended from the shell.

"… I… won…?"

Before the motionless Baby Turtle, Tria stood with her mouth hanging open. She had won. Against the Baby Turtle.

Against a creature that should have eaten her.

She looked at her hands. Touched them. They looked much the same as before. But come to think of it, her original limbs had been crushed, and these had been newly granted by Spirit-sama. They couldn't be ordinary hands. Despite looking cute, they had become hands capable of destroying a turtle's shell.

"Ah! I defeated the turtle… What do I do?"

She'd been told to hit the turtle. But the turtle was dead now… Should she go look for a new turtle?

After thinking for a moment, Tria decided that wandering off on her own might not be a good idea.

Crouch, stand, jump. Crouch, stand, jump.

Tria decided to silently continue training until Spirit-sama returned.

"Spirit-sama, please come back soon. Tria is doing her best alone."

Crouch, stand, jump. Crouch, stand, jump.

As if performing a ritual to summon Spirit-sama, Tria repeated the movements, waiting for Spirit-sama's return.