Chapter 2

I was initially skeptical when I put my finger forward and touched the transparent screen. I didn't feel anything on my finger, but the screen responded.

"< Touch of Gaia >

A skill that allows the user to convert any kind of energy to the energy that the user prefers. Example: The user can convert electricity into Mana using this skill."

What an odd thing. This may also be the cause of the gate. System or whatever it was, I can think about it later. Now the most essential part is rescuing the girls. Damn those idiots, getting caught and having me do the work of rescuing them. After getting them back, I will make sure to understand the consequences.

I went outside the room. I took the baseball bat that I had with me. Whatever the < Touch of Gaia > was, it won't be helpful as there is no electricity in the city. I have to use the old method. If the purple demon is stronger than the usual ghouls, I have to see other ways, but first, I need to see the demon myself.

The girls were supposed to go to the upper floors, so the purple demon might have been in the building and captured them. This is also very odd. I have never seen any demons, called purple demons. Ghouls and sometimes dog-like creatures with much larger bodies and sharper and longer teeth. If not for Dana spotting the demon before we ran into it, we would have become its nighttime meal.

I looked at the main door and had an urge to close it. I have avoided large enough towns or cities with a cluster of buildings. But the few survivors we met so far have said that the cities were full of ghouls. They said going to the road at night was not much different from suicide.

I still loved my life, and so did the girls. There is almost zero chance that they went out. Again I wanted to close the door, but that would make noise. Something that I cannot risk now. Whatever the system was and whatever this quest was, I had to save those girls, even if they were close to useless. I faced back towards the stairs. There was a gap in the corridor for the elevator. The door was shut for good. Unless humans took over the world again, there wasn't a chance of that door opening.

The stairs were pretty spacious; I went up steps by step in caution. Careful to not make any sound. The sports shoes that I had on my feet were helping with that. There was broken glass in a few places on the stairs, but the orange shine on them made it easy to avoid them. The sun was going down. The purple demon who took the girls seems like she does not follow the standard rules of sleeping during the day and waking up at night.

The girls knew how to walk without making sounds or leaving any apparent trails. Which made it harder for me to assess which floor they went in.

They would usually take about five minutes to check a floor of this size, and thinking about the gap between the system notification and their departure, they should be on the third floor. That much time was just enough for them to reach the third floor, which meant the nest or the purple demon wasn't staying too deep on the third floor.

I need to be more careful treading the next set of stairs. Soon after a few minutes, I have arrived at the half-section between the third and second floors. I need to rest. My plump body could fight after surviving this long, but it would not continue forever. I may be faster than other fat people and react or hit harder than them; my stamina isn't that much higher. I need rest before I expect to hit a few swings with the bat.

Rest is over. After lowering myself to as close to the stairs as possible, I peeked into the third floor. A long corridor and no other signs of any abnormalities. This isn't good. Now I have to look into each door, four of them.

'Ohh, man!' I said to myself before moving my ass towards the doors. The first set faces each other. A risky gamble, if I peek into one, and the purple demon is in the opposite room, he can detect me right away. I will lose any kind of element of surprise that I was hoping to get.

I peeked into the door left of me. Instinct, so I can swing my bat with my right hand at a perfect angle.

There he was. Or should I say, "It!". A hellish face smiled at me as if he was waiting for me. Four eyes, two with the ears and two in a wing-like angle besides two holes, what is supposed to be a nose. The mouth was hideous, with four fangs hanging out. The face was slightly cone-shaped towards the front, kinda like a dog. I guess it liked to eat food without disturbing the hands. I froze in the place. Hitting mindless ghouls and this monster will undoubtedly be different.

And the fucking ability that the system gave me, I didn't understand a thing about it.

"Come in; I was expecting you." The voice sounded eerie coming out of that canine-like face and mouth. The purple color of the skin didn't give any better impression. "Rarely, I don't have to go out to hunt, and the prey comes right to me." Then it laughed, and I wanted to vomit after watching that damn scene. But now, I had to be strong. I stood up and entered the room.

" < Touch of Gaia > activate!" I said in my mind. I hope the system knows what I am saying inside my head, expecting a response.

The purple demon threw his arms with sharp claws wide. He intends to jump at me. I have seen this type of pose in werewolf movies. Where those cursed beings throw their arms wide and run at their prey to tear them apart. This isn't good news for the prey, 'Me!' standing opposite. Luckily the system replied.

"Activation sequence beginning: Choose an energy source.

1. Mana from the air. [Unavailable] Level 20 required.

2. Mana from the ground. [Unavailable] Level 10 required.

3. Convert body fat to Mana. [Available]"

Wow. The third option took away my focus on the demon, and he took the chance and dashed at me.

"Choose option 3," I commanded with my mind. As if I could choose anything else. At the same time, the demon was right in front of me. My body was massive, which was a large target to avoid being torn apart by those sharp claws. But still, somehow, I managed to shift my body to the left and fell into a desk, avoiding the claw.

"Activating body fat conversion sequence, remaining 30 seconds."

What! Thirty seconds. Damn it. I got up. My left side was hurting like hell, but before I could even touch that side from my peripheral vision, I could see the demon smiling as it jumped at me again. I dived again, and I managed to hit one of its hands with the baseball bat this time. I jumped behind another desk, but before I could stand still, he pushed the desk at me, and I had to back down. I raised my bat, and he stood there looking at me. Still smiling. I don't think that the last hit did any damage to him.

"You can jump pretty good with a body of that size." He then licked his lips or whatever was between the skin and his mouth. "I wonder how good your fatty meat will taste!" He can talk a lot for a demon.

"You talk too much, demon!"

"And you hit like a cat, fat boy!" He ran towards me again. From the right, he swiped his claws. I hit that hand with my bat, but then he slammed me with his body. Man! That hit hard. Air left my lungs, and I felt like dying. I was never hit like this in my life. I flew into the wall. Another hit from behind.

"5 seconds remaining!" I checked the system to make sure. Damn it. Only 25 seconds went by, and it felt like a few hours. I stood up and felt pain all over my body. Talking about my body, it felt much lighter. I looked at my arm, and it was definitely skinnier than before.

"You got skinny!" The demon was surprised. "Too bad, but your meat will still be tasty, I suppose. I will skin you and then roast you in the sun that you all love for three days before eating you." He licked his lips again. "I hope your meat will be very tender by that point."

"Conversion finished, automatic allocation begins.

Permanent improvements:

1. Strength increase by 5.

2. Agility increase by 7.

3. Weapon mastery: Clubs increase by 10.

4. Mana recovery increased by 7.

5. Mana capacity increased by 100.

6. Vitality increase by 100.

7. Vitality recovery increased by 10.

Temporary improvements:

1. Strength increase by 20.

2. Agility increase by 20.

3. Vitality increase by 500.

Temporary improvements last for two minutes."

Whoa! That was something. I have played some games and can understand this message. It seems I became OP for two minutes, and as the fat in my body is gone, my body has some significant permanent improvements. I like this system or whatever it is.

"Now, it's my turn to hit." I stood up, and every one of my bones cracked as a response to the newfound power.