Hands are OP

I continued the game. On my phone screen, Tria was pummeling turtles. They're technically Baby Turtles, but they're still huge. Well, after seeing that parent turtle, I had to accept that yes, these were indeed babies.

Once you start punching, you just keep punching until it's dead — easy in its own way. Almost feels like a semi-idle game. The scary part is that a single hit might mean instant death though.

My parameters were growing steadily, and compared to last night, going from level 1 to 8 had earned me 21 SP. That's 3 SP per level up.

I currently have 61 SP remaining. The "Ancient Ruins Gun" my coworker mentioned was 90 SP, so if I got to level 18, I could get a gun too… but following the same path as my coworker seemed lame.

I should pursue a different direction on my own. In that sense, continuing to develop my current martial arts skill was a valid option.

Inventory seems to group identical items together, and since I've only got Baby Turtle items right now, there's plenty of room. You can specify freshness when taking items out, apparently. If you don't specify, it just pulls out whatever.

Having lots of space is nice, but organizing this is going to be a pain…

Anyway, I found another Baby Turtle wandering nearby, approached, and threw punches. Still no equipment, so barehanded. I wondered if there was crafting or something, but thinking about it, this Tria-chan is just some sacrificed village girl. Of course she wouldn't have such skills.

I mean, making such a village girl punch turtles barehanded is pretty crazy too.

Maybe I should make her a weapon with SP? But until I know how else to obtain SP besides leveling, it's still precious. My coworker said to just use it quickly, but making a weapon I'd replace right away seems wasteful. I'd also be annoyed if I used SP to learn a skill that turns out to be easily obtainable normally.

In the end, I'll wait and see a bit more. On hold.

Wait a sec? Maybe a wooden stick would have more attack power than bare hands. Yes, humans evolved from apes by wielding stones and sticks.

So I tried equipping a tree branch I'd picked up.

It worked.

… Attack power is only +2, but better than nothing, right? So I tried hitting the next Baby Turtle with it. Whack, whack — hit it several times but no damage was getting through.

And the branch broke before the shell did.

I see. So there's weapon durability… Maybe bare hands work because they don't have durability?

Hmm, this is looking like barehanded might be optimal for turtle hunting.

In the end, the stick hits apparently did almost no damage, so I had to finish it off with punches. Harvested it too, increasing my inventory's item count. Stats growing steadily.

Killing this turtle brought me to level 9. Strength at 45 now — triple what it was last night.

… Yeah, leveling up raises parameters way more than grinding training!!

But eventually leveling will cap out, and the fact that training raises parameters is probably an important element in its own right.

Now then, at this point the Baby Turtles' behavior changed.

When I started punching, they began extending their necks to counterattack. As if they hadn't recognized me as an enemy until now.

"Hmm, did the tutorial phase change?"

But the head takes more damage than the hard shell. And the head moves sluggishly too. Counter-punching in time with its slow movements — finally, combat that feels like a game.

Still, the timing is easier than rhythm games and the attacks are weak.

A few punches to the Baby Turtle's face would stun it, leaving it open for a beatdown. Land a rush, and with attack power that can break shells, I can destroy the head. One-shot its HP.

This dramatically sped up Baby Turtle hunting.

Find Baby Turtle, punch, it sticks out its face, punch, it attacks, punch, punch, stun, punch punch punch…!!

For harvesting, just store the whole corpse in inventory! If the shell isn't cracked, it goes in as "Baby Turtle Corpse" all at once. So easy! No worry about getting attacked during harvesting. Well, it might rot whole though.

I could now hunt Baby Turtles efficiently. Still no damage taken. Those bites can crush rocks — taking even one hit would be terrifying. I still don't have any healing either, and I don't know if there's respawn. There's the possibility I'd have to say goodbye to Tria and start over with a new girl.

And so I reached level 15. Nice, leveling up smoothly. Might be okay to take on two at once now. But keeping a safety margin, still one at a time. Martial arts proficiency has gone up considerably too.

I should check if auto-mode can handle this. If so, I'll leave her to farm Baby Turtles.

Now then, time for dinner while she does that. All this turtle hunting made me want meat — I'll open up some retort pouch hamburger steak!

 

＊　＊　＊

 

Defeating Baby Turtles. The creatures she thought she could never beat yesterday were now prey for one-sided hunting. Following the procedures Spirit-sama taught her, she could defeat them easily without taking a single hit.

Spirit-sama truly is amazing. Tria offered her gratitude while moving her own body.

She could feel her own strength growing rapidly. Baby turtles that took 10 punches to kill now took only 9. Punching through that shell was something her weak limbs from before being chosen as a sacrifice could never have done.

She looked at her limbs again. Barefoot, yet stepping on pebbles didn't hurt. Like the hands that could punch through shells, these feet granted by Spirit-sama were equally strong.

On a whim, while dodging a Baby Turtle's attack, she tried attacking its head with a kick. Her instep caught the side of the lunging Baby Turtle's head. "SPLURCH!" With heavy crushing sound, the Baby Turtle stopped moving. Even Tria blinked in surprise at this.

"Counter kick! So that's an option too!"

Spirit-sama, currently a halo, raised their voice happily.

Apparently her own idea had pleased Spirit-sama — Tria felt proud.

"Spirit-sama. May I try more things like this?"

"Munch, gulp… Yeah, okay!"

Permission granted… It seemed like they were eating something — perhaps the Baby Turtle's soul? As expected of Spirit-sama.

"Yeah yeah, at this rate I can leave the Baby Turtle hunting to you. Oh, but be careful not to get hit. It's slow but the damage is probably big."

"Understood, Spirit-sama!"

"Alright, I'll be doing other things, so take care!"

"Yes! Leave it to me!"

And so, the Baby Turtle extermination operation began.