Canon Fodder

CHAPTER 370 USE THE FORCE

I began to think of the tentacle porn world as Dagobah, I was pretty sure it was pronounced as Day-go-ba. The same name for the planet Yoda had trained Luke on in Star Wars. My version was like a swamp as well. No trees, but plenty of pools of water, ugly grass, and monsters lurking in every corner, it seemed to fit. It also helped that I had a small trainer on my shoulder, not so much a backpack as a boa, but it was close enough. 

Nibi and I spent the first few weeks on the planet trying to map it out. Understand the planet a little better. After some testing we found that where I landed was over double Earth’s gravity. As we explored more we found that the gravity only increased from there. The bigger monsters lived where the gravity was over 3 times higher than Earth’s. 

My body on Earth had been strong. I was training to be a hero by my dad. Able to go toe to toe…ish, against Omni-man, he was strong. I guessed that my body in Invincible World was close to the body I had leaving Solo-Leveling. Stronger than any human had a right to be, but not enough, not for Dagobah. 

Increased gravity was not as easy to deal with as Vegeta or Goku made it seem. I remembered the show where Goku was training for Namek, where he had been in 50 times gravity, then was subjected to 100 times gravity, so he jumped right up to training 100 times. Yeah, it doesn’t work that way in real life, not with human bodies anyway. Gravity wasn’t just the weight on your shoulders, it was the weight of everything. 

My arm hairs stuck to my skin, unused to the higher weight, hell even my eyelids became heavy. Every single part of my body was sore constantly. Kame mode helped a little, but I fainted daily from the strain for the first week. My heart beating harder than ever. It had trouble getting blood to my brain when I was under immense strain. 

I took naps constantly, too exhausted from every little thing. Even eating was a bitch. My body had become used to the weight of normal food hitting my stomach. On this planet it was like everytime I swallowed food a rock was hitting my innards. 

Multiple times gravity was not the dream I had hoped for. It took a month to even get used to it enough where I felt like a normal person walking around. And this was just at double gravity. I didn’t know how I did it before. In Manga Hall I had carried 500 pound weights on each limb, I had thought I would be fine, but so much more was involved to survive your body nearly doubling in weight. 

I stuck with it and trained daily. Quickly cycling through working with each of my powers for hours on end. My routine consisted of Saitama’s workout in the morning. 100 sit-ups, pushups, squats and a 6 mile run, the same quest as the one in Solo-Leveling. After the workout I would focus on my Nen and Spark. After a nap I would train my body as much as I could and train my Fusion and Timeflow. I didn’t bother training my Berserker skill because it was automatic. During all this Nibi sat near me, watching me as I continued on my quest to earn a Challenger slot without beating a world. 

I knew it was going to be tough. Probably the toughest fight I had ever been in. I needed to be ready. I had to understand the capabilities of every one of my powers before I even attempted to challenge another monster. As I worked with the powers I realized I had been hardly scratching the surface. 

First was Nen. Because I had erased my Handicap I had increased the amount to full. I hadn’t realized how much the Handicap had held back. I had a lot more to play with now. I had been playing with shrouding, manipulating, and attacking with Nen. With Nibi’s constant stare keeping me on track, I actually became well equipped to use my lifeforce. 

Focusing my Nen around my body the normally unruly power became a lot smoother. Hardly a visible aura with my Gyo. Condensing it over my skin, it added to my strength, and provided a huge defense. With that I was able to master my Nen Blast as well. The speed of the emission and sheer power of it took a huge jump as I mastered focusing the Nen in a split second rather than the seconds it used to take me. Blowing up boulders, it became my favorite ki-like technique, since I didn’t have to move to use it. 

My physical powers increased with the help of Nen. I was starting to get an understanding of Uvogin’s strength. Where my flimsy human body struggled in the increased gravity, my Nen made it so I could run and jump like I weighed nothing.

After my Nen practice I moved to my Spark. Unable to really practice firing nerves on other people, I was able to start talking to my own body. Medici had used her power to tell her body to heal this or that part of her. Able to live for thousands of years thanks to the ability, I began talking to my body. Firing this cluster of nerves made this move. Firing that part caused intense pain. Focusing it all over my body I was able to increase the healing my body did exponentially. 

With the practice of talking to bodies, I also used it to form attacks. The Spark was powered by a different energy than my Nen. I was slowly understanding that it was powered much the same as my movements were. If I tried to use the Spark Power on an empty stomach it was hard to grasp. If I just used the Spark, shooting lightning streaks this way and that, then I would eventually become hungry. It was good to identify the source of where the electricity was powered from as I practiced and stuffed my face over and over again. 

I trained throwing electricity, and shrouding my body in it. My Spark was the ultimate counterattack. Anything that touched me was electrocuted. Whether I punched them or they attacked me. It added up to the damage they received. More than a few smaller monsters on the planet had found that out the hard way. Thinking they could strike me when my back was turned the Spark would shoot into them before they touched me, causing their bodies to freeze up and I could kill them. 

The hardest skill to learn and train was my Fusion. Much like my Spark, I had to have a full stomach to use the power for long stretches of time. I understood fusing similar objects together. I tore up more than a few giant mushrooms and pieced them back together. As I spent more time on the planet and we traveled we were attacked more. I found out the disgusting way that I could tear an animal apart with my Fusion, then put it back together. For instance, focusing on my Fusion skill I could rip the animal’s skin apart. I could then push the skin back together and fuse it, sealing the wound back up. After I mastered simple skin fusion I learned that piecing dismembered body parts together was possible as well. 

It was disgusting but I killed a group of eels, and fused them all into one big one. Their dead bodies like a tentacle beast by the time I was done, it wasn’t pretty, but good to know. That was the time I found out I could fuse their flesh to me as well. It had been a simple experiment. I stuck the gray scaled eel tail tip to my skin and fused it to me. I wasn’t able to move it once fused, but as I focused I was able to somehow turn the new tail into my own flesh. Absorbing it into my body. 

It wasn’t that simple of course. It was a lot of focus on the Spiritual Energy of the eel part. Pushing my own Haki into the now fused tip I was able to absorb it. Adding to my general mass. A little freaked out after it happened. It took me some time to get the hang of it. 

After killing a large hairless rat I had taken some of its flesh and added it to my own. And as I did I realized I could manipulate my mass. Charging my body with my Fusion power I was able to make this or that part of me taller or longer, much like how I had done the same with my Epitome skill using Chakra. I doubted I would have tried or figured it out without my experience with Chakra, but slowly I got the hang of it. 

I couldn’t add a whole lot of flesh. My body was exhausted daily, muscles were always on fire, trying to heal themselves. I would add a little here and there, manipulating my physique. Trying to learn the capabilities of the Fusion power so that I could eventually absorb and separate from my main body that was in Manhwa. 

I made my dick bigger of course, and made myself taller. Stretching my body out a millimeter at a time as I learned the power. And as I did I learned how to manipulate other objects as well. A rock in hand I could use my Fusion to force rocks to deform and alter their own shape as well, like working with clay. And thanks to that training I learned to fuse dissimilar objects. 

Spiritual Energy was the key when using my Fusion. I had to always monitor what I was fusing with my Observation Haki. My Fusion actually melded dissimilar Haki somehow. When I brought a rock and small mushroom together, if I focused with a huge burst of Fusion, all at once, they would come together. Their Spiritual Energy would mix and be a part of one another. 

It exhausted my ability. But it could be done. The mushroom would shrivel and die within an hour, but it was another way to attack. Once trying to push the training I forced a snake and boulder to fuse. The huge snake hissed and fought, unable to dislodge itself from the rock. I watched, fearful and in awe of the power as it looked like a snake was growing from the rock. The snake tried to slither and whip this way and that, but as the Spiritual Energies fused, the snake lost it’s strength. Eventually dying as well, it was unnatural for them to become one, and I decided that more testing was required. 

My new power reminded me a lot of Chisaki’s from My Hero Academia. Able to break apart and remake anything, I wasn’t near as fast at it as he was. I hoped to be someday. Our last fight he had absorbed the bodies of people I had killed, making himself stronger somehow. I wanted that. 

Around that time Nibi and I decided to work on our own melding. The black and blue cat always watching and waiting. She worked out a plan to make our powers mix. We didn’t use Fusion of course. But with meditation I was able to clear my mind enough for her chakra to enter me. Much like with Kame Mode, it was all about emptying my mind.  

It didn’t awaken chakra in me, but it became a huge amount of power added to my own. Which proved nearly deadly to me. 

I hadn’t noticed it when we succeeded the first time, but her chakra was like trying to hold the sun. Pure and volatile, my skin would burn when I used the near bottomless power. After more testing we found that I could only handle absorbing her chakra for short bursts of time. With training we learned to only need a few seconds of focus, she would disappear and move into me somehow. Granting me her chakra to do this or that I mainly used it like she did. Condensing the chakra into a condensed ball of chakra. 

The last power I had to train with was my new Timeflow. Able to speed my time up I quickly realized what the Time Lag weakness was. There was a large cooldown time period in between when I could speed myself up. I practiced the ability and was able to extend how long I could use it, but that cooldown was still there. I needed a Weakness Eliminator to bring out its full potential.

As we finished the training my body felt strong enough to venture out even further. We eventually came to a rocky area. The large mountains were the territory of huge birds. The birds had 20 foot wide wingspans. I fought one when it tried to eat me. I latched onto it and as it tried to shake us off Nibi and I were flown far away. The giant bird able to soar near the clouds she was out of reach of the Cthulhu monsters, and took us hundreds of miles in an hour. When we finally brought it down we were thrown into a vast desert outside the range of the swamp zone. 

As I cleaned the bird up for our dinner I received my first new quest since coming to Dagobah. 

Excited for another Challenger Slot from no world ending quest, I set to work. I found out soon enough that Antlions resembled the fantasy variety. Digging into the sandy soil they would attack anything that stepped over top of them. These specific Antlions were about 20 feet across, and the only part I saw of the ant-like tops was about 15 feet tall. Pulling unsuspecting prey to their homes under the desert they were a big worry since they were worthy of a Challenger Slot. 

After that I had to take stock of what I had in my Inventory. I had Weston’s health potions he had earned for the daily reward from the Solo Leveling quest. Also a few pieces of armor. Mainly leather there were a few hunks of metal sewed in. I had a sword and spear as well. So I began practicing pushing my Enhancement Nen into the weapons, making them far deadlier, and added weapon practice to my daily routine. 

—

This Antlion was well hidden as always. I had fought this specific one 3 times. I felt confident I could get him this time. Sand covering its body I extended my Haki out. Sensing the monster’s emotions. Hunger was all I felt, hunger and knowledge. 

Unlike what I expected, the Antlion was a smart creature. I guessed this one was one of the older ones. Able to feel vibrations from my movements, it was ready to strike me at any moment though I was 100 feet away. Calming myself, Nibi stuck back to allow me to take it on myself. More than a few scratches from fighting the damn bugs. I had been hard pressed for over a week to strike one down, but today was the day. 

I gripped my spear in hand and began to run over the sand toward it. As I did I felt the Antlion begin to scuttle it’s stubby legs. Moving down slightly it was preparing to spring up and out of the sand at me. I forced myself calm as I drew ever closer. My mind’s eye focused on my foe as I did. 

I got the warning of it’s movement with my Observation Haki. Jumping to the side I cleared a good 20 feet with my Nen powered kick. As I landed far away the Antlion began to draw back. 

It had been that quick, one second it was buried in the sand, the next it was on you. A mere split second was all it took to shoot out of it’s hiding spot below the sand and latch onto you. I had lost a leg the first time I fought one. It took me days of Fusing body parts of dead animals to build it back up. I didn’t make that mistake again. I was out of there and gone before the Antlion struck, no exceptions. 

As it drew back much more slowly than it had shot out, I used a burst of speed to close the distance to my foe. The bottom of the Antlion was still hidden, but the torso was visible. Thick lobster-like pincers for front arms, there were another 20 smaller legs under its belly for moving. Brown colored thorax and body it blended in well. The head was smaller, but as big as I was. 2 articulating fangs it had a large horn sticking out of it’s head as well. 

Closing my eye to aim. I coated my spear with Nen and threw the metal toothpick straight at the beast. The spear flew through the air stabbing into the face of the antlion. Many beady eyes focusing on me, it moved back into the sand den. I dodged to the side as it struck again. Landing not near as far this time, I skidded to a halt on the side of the Antlion. Grabbing one of the thick hairs on its body I pulled myself onto it’s back. 

The other skill I had been working on with my training had been Timeflow. Harder to grasp I slowly understood that my body and a small area around me had the time sped up. Everything moved more slowly to me, and I could attack and move more easily. I had been trying to make my time slow down, just to train the skill, but hadn’t had much success, so I stuck to speeding myself up. 

As I ran along the back of the Antlion it drew itself back slowly. Closing the distance to it’s head the time began to become normal for me as I hit it hard. Nen empowering every bit of me I began to rip and tear at the small head of the Antlion. It’s long pincers moved for me, but I had already blinded it. 

Eyes a mess of black goop it roared as it tried to squeeze the life out of me. I dodged the pincers, punching them hard as they passed over top of me. The arms were thrown back, high above us and I focused on it’s head again. 

My cooldown gone for Timeflow gone, I sped up my time again. This time I used the skill for attack. Striking it over and over again in quick succession the Antlion let out a long drawn out screech while it’s face began to burst with each hit. 

I got 6 hits in before the antlion tried to scuttle back into it’s lair. I wasn’t falling for it this time. I latched on, my hands digging into the hard carapace. I gripped it as we were both pulled down into it’s den. This was the farthest I had gotten when fighting the beast. The other attempts mere tests to learn their moves, this was the time to focus. 

Sand coated me everywhere, but guided by my Observation Haki I found its head and began punching for all I had. Somehow a bubble of air had been dragged in with the Antlion and gave me more than enough room to draw my arm back and continue my onslaught. 

Hardly feeling the increased gravity when I was at full strength, I felt it now. My arms punching harder and harder I roared as the beast began to convulse. It’s head becoming a pulpy mess, it didn’t attack me again. The last thing going through its mind was my fist as I gave one final blow and received my notification. 

The bubble of air collapsing as the bug died. I instinctively held my breath and began to dig up. Only a few feet below the surface I used Nen to strengthen me. When I breached I gave a long satisfied sigh. Fully out of the Antlion den Nibi approached me. The blue/black cat gave me a nod. 

“You can call me, Matatabi,” she said. Pronounced Mat-uh-tob-e. 

As a tailed beast she had always been referred to by her quantity of tails. Nibi meant 2 tails in Japanese. It had been a big deal for Naruto to learn his tailed beast's name, and I felt the importance of the admission.  

“Oh yeah? Did I finally earn your name?” I asked. 

“You have,” she said as if gifting me thousands of gold coins. 

“That’s a long name,” I said, wiping sand off of me. “How about Tabi?” I pronounced it Tab-e. 

“Don’t ruin this moment,” she said, her eyes squinting. I reached down and she jumped on my shoulder. 

“How could I have done better, Tabi?” I asked. 

She sighed, shaking her head as we walked out of the pit. “You lost your spear. I would start with that.” 

“Shit,” I said, looking around. “Did you see it?” 

“No, it must have pulled it out at some point,” she said.

“Dammit, I already lost the sword,” I admitted. “Should I leave the world an-”

“No! Stop talking about leaving. You need to train. Stop relying on other worlds,” she reiterated. “Now, prepare to fight another. These are weaker than the Cthulhu monsters. You need to become more confident with your new fighting style. You didn’t Fuse it once.”

“Crap, I forgot again,” I said, annoyed. “Didn’t use my Spark either. Alright, let’s get to it.”