CHAPTER 372 FISHING

CHAPTER 372 FISHING

“I’m surprised you didn’t notice,” Tabi said, licking her paw as we sat beside a fire. We were under the shade of one of the giant mushrooms as we finished our dinner.

“Uh no, I didn’t feel a psychic calling from the giant tentacle monsters,” I reiterated. “How long have they been talking to you?”

“Since we got here,” she said. “It’s not a problem for me to combat, but I’m surprised you don’t hear it. It can get rather annoying to hear them from so far away. Your Psychic Resistance Bonus must be strong.”

“I guess,” I said. “I haven’t really noticed it. Why are the Cthulhu monsters sending out the psychic calling?”

“My guess, fishing,” she said. “They all send out this frequency. I’m sure it travels out into the cosmos, hitting other psychics. Then the psychic feels this longing to summon them or open a portal, like those COC members had.”

“Cock?” I asked. “Oh right, the Children of Cthulu.” I chuckled at my own joke. “Damn that was forever ago.”

“Only a few months,” Tabi said.

“Well I’m sorry I ain’t a 1,000 year old cat demon,” I said.

“You might be someday,” she teased. “You stole that Medici power, maybe you will live long like her.”

“Maybe,” I said, tired. “So what? You think that other planets are opening portals to these guys, like mine did?”

“I know other portals are opening,” Tabi said. “I can feel a shift in the space.”

“What? Since when?”

“Since we got here,” she said. “Not all of us are stupid blockheads that only see what’s in front of them.”

“You know, I asked for a mentor once. I was hoping for a wise old man, not some grumpy pussy cat.”

“And yet, here we are,” she said, unbothered by my anger. “Your Haki isn’t the only skill to sense what is going on around you. If you can learn to think and listen, the world becomes quite an open book.”

“Yeah, yeah, you wise old sage,” I said. “Then you can tell us where these portals open?”

“I can get a sense, but you should learn to look for them as well,” Tabi said.

“This place is huge though,” I said.

“Didn’t you tell me about a god character that could use his Haki to sense everything going on for miles?”

“God? Oh god Enel,” I said. “Yeah. I never understood that.” Enel on Skypiea could use his Observation Haki to know everything that was going on for miles around him. “Jeez, I fought him a long time ago.”

“Stop reminiscing,” she ordered. “Learn to do what he could. This world has sent you on a quest here for a reason. You said that the foes in Invincible are impossibly strong. You need to get that way or you are screwed.”

“Look at you, using screwed in sentences. Next you’ll be cursing like a sailor-cat.”

“Hush,” she said, annoyed. “Get serious and start practicing.”

I let out an annoyed groan but sat up. Closing my eyes I extended my Observation outward. Normally I could sense everything going on within about 50 feet of me. Lately I had been able to stretch that out. My particular use of Observation Haki focused on the minor details, so I was never unaware. I had to stop focusing on the trees and focus on the forest. Everywhere around me all at once, pushing my range out more I was surprised that I could feel something. Then a question hit me.

“Why do they bother calling people here?” I asked. “The Cthulhu monsters. Why bring people at all?”

“My guess? Their psychic powers,” Tabi said after some thought. “I believe they need or want higher lifeforms to eat. If the Cthulhu monsters are psychic, perhaps they need smarter prey so they can continue to grow their own powers.”

“So they’ve been doing this for a long time? Is that why they focused on me, even though I’m so small?” I asked. “It was like a T-Rex focusing on me rather than bigger and more filling prey.” I never understood why a T-Rex would be interested in eating a human in Jurassic Park.

“Probably,” she said. Our conversation died down after that.

I extended the Haki I was observing out again. Sense of this or that animal coming to my mind I ignored everything else as I felt it all. A snake here, boulder there, I let it all become white noise as I extended my thought out. I wasn’t sure how far I could feel, but apparently it was a ways away. Ignoring small things like moss or water, I only cared about the big stuff. Mentally watching as this predator stalked this prey, my mind became serene as it all came to me.

—

It wasn’t that easy of course. Though the Cthulhu monsters were supposedly casting psychic nets out into the cosmos. Apparently it was rare for some idiotic kid to follow whatever instructions sent out to open a portal to this world. When it did, the summoner learned quickly to shut the portal.

“Why did you?” He shot back.

“I didn’t. I got pulled in like you. But unlike you, no one was there to save me.”

“Yes,” he said, looking down. “Again, thank you.”

“No prob,” I said with a shrug. I was really looking for more people. I didn’t find these males very...humanoid. But I hoped there were some females around that were more to my tastes. Who didn’t want to be the Shatner of the world, laying all the women of the universe.

“We um, were desperate,” Cathrpish admitted. “Despite how it looks we were attempting this summon to help our people. Some weeks ago many of our strongest were killed in an attack.”

“Your strongest?” I asked, confused as I turned back to him.

“Yes, there are many bad Mians,” he said, pronouncing it as Me-ins. “We had a part of our military dedicated to fighting such people. A few weeks ago our strongest protectors were all gathered and killed. No one knows who killed them.”

I thought back. “Tell me, is there someone on this planet that looks like me?” I asked. Cathrpish looked at me confused. “Someone with my skin tone? Maybe darker, like this brown.” I pointed at a chocolate colored chair. “Hair? Same types of limbs?”

“Yes, there is,” Cathrpish said, recalling something. “They were from another world, but they left planet a few weeks ago.”

“Oh,” I said, knowing it wasn’t a coincidence. “You uh, catch a name?”

“I have only met the person a few times,” he admitted, confused. “Why? Does it matter?”

The only people that traveled the universe that looked like me were the Viltrumites. If the other person was one then this world was set for domination like my own homeworld was. I decided escaping before the Viltrumite horde got there was my best bet. Thinking on how I could escape, lay with a female Mian, and do it all as quickly as possible I began to plan. As I did I received a new quest.

Invincible World Quest 5:

Defeat a Viltrumite

Rewards:

Viltrumite Physiology

“What the fuck?” I asked, my eyes wide as I read the quest over and over.

“What?” Cathrpish asked.

“Uh, nothing,” I said, chewing my lip as I thought. Viltrumites were the main villains of the world. Basically Saiyans, they were sent all around the world to conquer planets. Pretending to be wise and benevolent beings. They would spend decades on a planet, trying to see if they could procreate with the local population. If they could, they would conquer the planet, if not they would likely destroy it and the people. They had no use for useless beings.

On Earth there was a Viltrumite. His son, the protagonist of Invincible, was half-Viltrumite, and eventually became the ruler of them all. Able to fly, live in space, regenerate limbs. They were Superman himself, but way more ruthless and bloodthirsty. I would love to have their Physiology. It was like getting the Player awakening in Solo-leveling. But going up against one was like going up against a god.

“How did I beat the last god?” I asked, thinking back to Naruto world.