Chapter Three: Fishy Fish

"Well, that was underwhelming." Wang Yuan closely inspected the place where his rock hit. There was some damage, sure, but it wasn't that great.

Was it comparable to a gun in his previous world? Absolutely not.

Was it stronger than his fists? Most definitely.

Was it enough to kill the birds that can uproot an entire tree? Fuck no.

It's quite stronger than his punches, sure, but there's a problem.

"It's nowhere near as powerful, but it's still good for a ranged option. The problem here, though, is stamina." Wang Yuan felt a bit exhausted after just throwing one stone, so at best, he might be able to shoot a dozen or so rocks before he becomes exhausted and need to rest.

"Best ways to use this is either using one of the rocks it to get the first hit in, and the remaining ones to shoot them down once they tried to run away. Using this mid-battle would not be worth it, as the stamina constraint is a massive downside."

Overall, while not great, it certainly wasn't bad either. Besides, every ability he gains is a good thing, regardless of how efficient they are. Not to mention, damage was not the most important thing about this new power. The most important thing was;

"Pew pew"

It was style.

"Pew!"

Like a child, a few more energy blasts shot out, and Wang Yuan had a look of a child on his face, as if he wanted to do this all his life.

"He-he, I'm definitely not gonna survive for long." Wang Yuan got a few smalls rocks off the ground, and put them in his pocket. Then, he ate the remaining rodent meat, and left to find a water source.

He decided to call the rock shooting "Energy shot", and the leaping ability, well, "Leap". Extremely generic names, but it helped him remember them.

While searching, he began to think about the other possible uses of his abilities.

'The Energy Shot could mostly be used to take down fleeing enemies, but that's about it. I wonder, could I just pick a bunch of pebbles, throw them, and turn them into energy as well just like a singular rock throw? If it works, it would be like... a shotgun? An energy shotgun? But god knows how much of my stamina it will drain.'

Wang Yuan scratched his chin, he thought that if he could absorb other creatures abilities, would it be possible to also absorb their stamina? Assuming there was a creature that could run for three hours straight, if he absorbed it, would he gain that immense stamina or not?

'If I could, then the Energy Shot usefulness would skyrocket.' He thought to himself, before shaking his head slightly.

'Still, those are only theories. I need to think of something that could help me right now in case I get into another fight.'

...

He had no idea how many hours it has been, but he felt his mouth had become a desert. Fortunately, though, he could hear faint sounds of water from afar. Due to his enhanced senses, he could feel that it was close to 400 meters away from here.

Wang Yuan immediately began running full speed at the direction of the sound. Although he had the Leap ability from the rodent, but it had a cooldown, and it didn't actually improve his running speed. The Leap ability seems to add a lot of force on his legs when he wanted to use it, causing him to traverse great distances. He had no idea how his legs aren't broken considering he could travel 50 meters with a single leap, but he decided to test it out later to see why. Although, it gave him some ideas and theories he wanted to test out.

Wang Yuan has counted the time before he could use "Leap" again, and it was exactly 10 seconds. Thankfully, though, it only had a small restraint on his stamina. So he could use it every 10 seconds to get closer.

He eventually reached a long, beautiful river along with a large waterfall. The waterfall's height was frightening, and its width was close to 600 meters. It was also so deep that he couldn't see the end of it.

He could see his reflection perfectly, and just seeing the running water almost made him go insane due to how thirsty he was.

'Let's hope it's not poisonous or anything. This world is crazy, after all.'

He took a small sip, and waited for a few minutes. The water tasted normal, and he didn't feel any strange feeling.

Like a frenzied dog, he began drinking, and drinking, until he was satisfied.

However, as he was about to take another mouthful, he could hear faint ripples, and the sound of something approaching from the depths.

It all happened too quickly.

A giant fish, easily spanning several meters in length, busted out of the water and towards Wang Yuan, its mouth a full 180 degrees open.

With a panicked and shocked thought, Wang Yuan's first instinct was to use Leap. And as the fish's mouth was a few moments away from chopping him in half, Wang Yuan's leg moved a single centimeter, and he was instantly launched 50 meters away from his current location.

The fish closed its mouth with a horrifying force. It's sound alone gave Wang Yuan the chills.

This monstrosity immediately went underwater after trying to chop Wang Yuan down. Wang Yuan thought it left, but that thought quickly shattered when he saw it poking its head out, while four spears of water were forming on top of it.

Wang Yuan widened his eyes in shock, before doing what any genius would.

Running the hell away.

He turned a whole 180 degree, and ran the fastest he has ever done. However, fearing that he wouldn't be able to dodge the spears, Wang Yuan quickly grabbed four pebbles from his pocket, and flicked each one at each spear, turning the pebbles into energy beams.

Of course, due to lack of practice, and him generally never training for aim shooting, 3 of the 4 Energy Shots missed, only one of them managed to hit one of the spears. If he hadn't had his enhanced vision, it's likely he wouldn't have been able to hit even that one.

One of the spears was destroyed, but it quickly reformed.

All of this happened in 10 seconds.

'Okay that's unfair. Fuck that.' Wang Yuan quickly moved between the trees, not letting the fish see him.

His heart almost dropped when a tree right next to him was completely pulverized, turning it into dust. This 8 meter tall tree has completely ceased to exist. He didn't hear a single sound, until the sound of something akin to an explosion came.

This was a sonic boom. These spears were actually faster than sound!

Fear started to take over him, and he began running more frantically, using the environment to its fullest.

Two more spears were shot, and two more trees were pulverized. However, each time, it was getting closer to him. He couldn't even see the fish or the final spear anymore.

Wang Yuan panted lightly, before using his last method of escape.

Leap.

Wang Yuan instantly traversed 50 meters, as if he teleported. The location he was in just now had the final spear hitting it, turning it into dust.

The rodent he fought was dumb, and couldn't aim. And yet this fish's aim is even better than him.

This was gonna be a huge problem.

...

After a few minutes of constant running, Wang Yuan sat down to take a breather, his face showing all kinds of worry.

"I... I think it's over now." He muttered to himself, before wiping the sweat off of his temple.

Two leaps in a matter of a minute, constant running, and 4 energy shots had cost his stamina to be depleted quite a lot.

Wang Yuan had many thoughts in his mind.

The first one; 'Fuck fishes, I'm never eating them again.'

And the second one; Fear and Worry.

He was afraid. It wasn't like that time with the red eyed rabbit, this fish didn't give him that Danger Sense.

He hadn't felt this afraid in a long time. If he had been a moment too late to use his Leap ability, then he would've died before he had known. He initially thought that the fish was a bit stronger than him, as he had energy shot and leap, but it wasn't worth poking a fight with it.

But this proved that simple fish was way out of his league. Every attack from it would've instantly killed Wang Yuan. Wang Yuan slowly touched his face with his trembled hands, and let out a shaky sigh.

"...I'm strangely craving rodent meat right now."

Wang Yuan closed his eyes, and just started collecting his thoughts, sweat pouring from his temple.

...

A few hours have passed, and the sun was finally setting. It won't be long before it turns into night, probably an hour or so.

He had no idea what kind of hellish monsters awaited at night. From the novels he read, bad stuff usually goes down after it becomes dark. Hell, scratch that, predators are usually more active at night.

Wang Yuan's fears and worries died down dramatically, and he was back to his usual self. He looked at the dusk with an intrigued expression, before turning to one of the trees.

While not the best, but he might be able to conceal himself a bit better up in those trees.

Wang Yuan immediately used Leap, and he traversed 15 meters into the air. After experimenting with Leap the last few hours after the fish incident, Wang Yuan realized he can decide the amount of distance he wanted to travel with Leap, he just needed to think about.

Although 50 meters was the limit.

After landing on one of the thick branches, Wang Yuan sat down. There were no fruits in this tree, neither in the many others. The extremely tall ones seemed to have ones, though. He might be able to get some later by shooting an Energy Shot at it.

He wasn't sure if he could even sleep, especially when the night could be much more dangerous than day.

'I'll stay awake for a few hours. If I didn't notice anything out of the ordinary, I'll just go to sleep.' Wang Yuan thought for a moment, before looking at his leg.

He had a lot of theories for the Leap ability, although most of the ones he tested in the last hours turned out to be failures, however the discovery that he can choose the amount he wanted to travel was a good result.

Another theory he tested out, and turned out to be a success, was that he didn't actually need both of his legs to activate leap. He could easily activate it with one leg, with the other one not getting any force. This could prove useful to another theory he had. In order to activate it like this, he just needs to think about it. Leap and Energy shot entirely depended on what he wanted. If he wanted to traverse only 10 meters with Leap, then it will only traverse 10 meters.

He wanted to experiment with Energy shot, but he felt worse after every experiement he did with Leap, and considering Energy Shot takes more stamina from him, he decided to post-pone it to tomorrow.

Still, he had one final major theory he wanted to test out for Leap.

'I really need to test this out. If it turns out to be correct, then the results should be devastating. I just need a creature. A creature I'm confident on taking down.' Wang Yuan thought for a bit before looking around, checking the area with full focus and his eyes perked up. Thankfully, his enhanced senses helped him a lot.

Unfortuantely, he found nothing. He let out a tiresome sigh, before laying on the hard branch.

...

A few hours have passed, but alas, nothing came. Wang Yuan's anxiety died down, and he was a few moments away from sleeping. However, as he was about to sleep, he heard something.

A squeal.

Wang Yuan's eyes instantly focused, and turned his attention at the source.

A Rodent, just like before. Albeit this time it's a bit larger than the previous one. It's fur was brown with a yellow hue, and its eyes were blood red. It's a bit different, but it should still be fine, Wang Yuan thought.

He was about to jump down from the tree, before realizing he's still a normal human, and a fall like this would hurt quite a lot, if not outright disable him. Wang Yuan sighed with disappointment before using Leap to travel 50 meters away from his current location, and quite a bit longer than the Rodent.

'Just 10 more seconds, and then I shall be able to--' The rodent immediately rose its head, sniffing. It's head slightly moved, before pointing exactly at Wang Yuan.

Both of them stared at each other for but a moment, before the Rodent immediately rushed towards Wang Yuan.

Wang Yuan's eyes focused, and he got himself ready. 7 seconds have passed, and it should be fine in just 3 seconds.

40 meters.

30 meters.

20 meters.

10 meters.

Wang Yuan caluclated the distance, before finally trying out his theory. Wang Yuan kept one foot, his left, struck to the ground, and his other leg, his right, aimed at the rodent.

8 meters.

KYAAAAAAH!" The rodent shouted before leaping at Wang Yuan with all its strength, but Wang Yuan didn't move.

He stayed in his correct position, not moving a single muscle.

That is, up until she was just 2 meters away.

"Leap!"

Almost shouting, Wang Yuan moved his left leg a single centimeter, and wanted to traverse 50 meters.

And like, the terrifying speed of the lamp launched Wang Yuan forward, his right leg still aimed at the rodent.

Due to the fact that there were only a few meters away from them, the rodent was hit with Wang Yuan's incoming leg, and its kinetic energy was enough for Wang Yuan to hear a loud, audible crack-- no, bunch of cracks coming from the rodent.

The amount of kinetic energy was more than enough to kill it. If this rodent was any similar to the one that Wang Yuan previously killed, then there was no way it was gonna survive. Hell, if someone at this speed came at Wang Yuan, then he wasn't sure if he was gonna survive either.

After Leap was finished, Wang Yuan lifted the dead rodent with an excited look. This kick was so powerful that the entire body if the rodent was like plastic, its bones all shattered.

The experiment was a success.

In reality, he wanted to do two things;

One, see if Leap could be used offensively, and the answer is yes.

Two, he realized his leap, and energy shots, while impressive, they were nowhere near as powerful as a small rodent. He wanted to know if his powers would increase if he absorbed more rodents, or if it wouldn't do anything.

Wang Yuan brought up his trusty fork with a certain light in his eyes.