5
Remember to give me reviews, I wanna see them thoughts.
I somehow managed to cock up the attributes a bit in the previous chapter, sorry about that, it should all be fixed now.
LET'S GO GAMBLING!
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Kenshin found himself outside again, dressed in a simple all-black and white tracksuit. He could feel his legs burning as he jogged to the gym, his lungs heaving in deep, measured breaths. It was the dawn of the next day, and he was already out and about trying out Saitama's training recommendation. Since he could afford a gym membership with all its perks, those being an air-conditioning unit and a nice place to exercise, he might as well use it. He did buy the membership after all.
Simply walking to and from was a waste of time, might as well use that short time to put in some work. And while there were no changes to his stats yet, the male could at least feel some physical differences. Those mainly stemmed from his increase in energy, he could actually get out of bed without too much trouble now, and didn't even need coffee like he usually does!
That was probably the fruit of his labour and living a healthier lifestyle. He changed his diet too, and since he could now actually afford properly balanced meals, he did just that. Now, Kenshin wasn't a cook or anything, he knew the basics at least, but he was still having issues properly preparing the food he saw on the internet. It would probably be best to just buy it from a restaurant or directly at the gym if they even offered meals.
Enough of that, time to put in some work today!
With his headphones on and his duffle bag replaced with a regular old backpack, he was feeling pretty good! His headphones blared in music to help him pass the time and find proper rhythm.
"Okay, I pull up, hop out at the after party~"
Kenshin's taste in music truly needs to be studied.
Arriving at the gym he greeted the woman manning the counter and quickly went to throw his unnecessary stuff into a locker before getting back into the grind. Those attributes ain't gonna raise themselves and monsters wait for nobody.
Kenshin did his best to add Saitama's recommended training regiment into his own, which was mostly just chaotic running, but he somehow pulled through. Since he wanted to first focus on speed, he turned the 10km run into a 20km run and largely left everything as it was. He didn't have that much stamina yet, or rather, he didn't want to pass out and wake up in extreme pain the next day.
Safe to say, his muscles were screaming by the end and his lungs felt like deflated balloons. Yet, he noticed changes. At least on the status screen when he went to shower.
◇──◆──◇──◆◆──◇──◆──◇
>[Name]
Kenshin
>[Hero Alias]
Gambit
>[Age]
Irrelevant, legal.
>[Ability List]
Compulsive Gambler [N/A]
-In combat: roll a d20, the higher the number, the greater the critical strike, however, low numbers run the risk of the attack outright missing.
-Out of combat: play a variety of minigames at the cost of currency or items, each giving special rewards. The greater the risk, the greater the possible reward~
Perfect Self [EX+]
-View and edit personal attributes portraying to one's physique and even luck.
Photosynthesis] [C-]
The user can survive off of sunlight.
>[ATTRIBUTES]
Strength: F- -> D-
Stamina: D+ -> C+
Speed: F -> D
Charm: EX+
Ability: B
Luck: EX+
◇──◆──◇──◆◆──◇──◆──◇
"...Damn."
Damn indeed, those buffs were huge for him. For someone that could barely run for a minute and lift shopping bags, getting this amount of gains was pretty fucking radical. His stamina got the fattest boost, almost reaching into the B. Very nice.
His strength also jumped a whole ass letter, which is also very nice. His speed? Damn! There really might be something to Saitama's training! But Kenshin didn't want to get too giddy too quickly. Even if his body somehow managed to compete with professional athletes in a matter of days, there was bound to be a limit that would make getting stronger harder. It was just naturally ingrained into human biology.
Oh well, no point thinking about that now!
Time to head home, and that's exactly what he did. He changed his clothes to his casual outfit so he wouldn't stink up the street with sweat and was largely content to continue grinding stats like this. He could join the Hero Association later when he was actually capable.
But still, getting strong and being strong are two different things. He couldn't just start throwing hands with random monsters willy-nilly without a weapon, a fighting style or protection. He should try learning martial arts or something, getting an overpowered ability from the gamba would also help tremendously...
"So much thinking..." he didn't like thinking.
As Kenshin walked through the streets of Z-City, he couldn't help but contemplate what to do next. He wasn't much of a strategist or anything of that sort, hell, he couldn't even figure out how to file taxes properly. So now, in a moment of clarity, he was kind of... stunned.
"...Oh right I don't need to eat..."
And decided to fuck all that thinking and remind himself that he was now a fucking plant and didn't need to eat at all. Well, that would certainly allow him to save up money, but most importantly, time. More time to grind, more time to get stronger. Very nice!
"I should probably call that girl sometime..." right, he kept forgetting he got her number, the woman from the gym, not bad looking at all-
TATATATATATATATATATATA!
RUMBLE!
SLAM!
The sound that could best be described as the rapid footsteps of something with hooves was Kenshin's only warning as his body found itself flung into the air like he was hit by a car going over the speed limit. It was just about as painful too.
"WHAT THE FUCK-"
THUMP!
His body soared through the air for a good second before it slammed into the hard pavement below. Kenshin groaned as he picked himself up to the frantic screams of random passersby. But they weren't yelling because he got hit, they were screaming in fear at what hit him.
It was a fucking deer.
Yeah, no kidding. As Kenshin picked himself off the ground and stood on wobbly legs, he came face to face with the world's most swole deer. It was standing on its hind legs with the posture of a "Come at me, bro.". It even had fucking guns for antlers! GUNS! What the hell?!
Granted the two desert eagles probably wouldn't threaten a hero, but they sure as fuck could threaten and probably kill him!
"Oh deer..." hilarious, aren't you?
The bystanders quickly ran away, and Kenshin had no fucking idea why this goofy ahh monster decided to target him. First the fish thing, now this. However, when he briefly looked back and saw the mangled bodies of civilians behind him, he was beginning to understand. It was probably targeting him because he didn't die in one hit.
"Some EX+ luck I have..."
With a grumble, he threw his backpack aside, there was no chance in hell he was outrunning this thing, so the only option left was to fight. Now, Kenshin wouldn't lie to himself, he was not confident in his victory, at all, but he could at least hope to hold on for long enough for heroes to arrive and save him.
"Alright, let's rumble, spooky!"
It didn't need to be told twice, or once really, as it fucking zipped at him at the speed of a racing car. The deer didn't even need to build up speed, it straight up just boomed towards Kenshin at its maximum speed!
He barely managed to dodge, and even then the deer's arm managed to scrape his torso, leaving a long gash in his clothing. Thankfully, his skin was mostly spared as a painful red line ran across his chest, but no blood.
The deer gave Kenshin no time to think, as it turned its head towards him and fired off three shots, two of which missed and one nearly found its mark in his shoulder. Thankfully, this fuck couldn't aim for shit, and it only grazed Kenshin, but it still was scary as hell.
"Okay, okay!" he quickly ran backwards, but was immediately followed by the deer.
With his back against the wall of a random store, Kenshin had to think quickly, so through some well-placed jumps against the wall, he grabbed a hold of a neon sign as the deer slammed against the wall and went straight through it.
The momentary concussion didn't even slow the thing down as it barrelled outside mere moments later, "Can't we talk about this?!"
The answer was no.
Kenshin barely had the time to react as the deer's neck suddenly elongated and its head chomped down on the sign he was holding onto. His brain didn't even bother thinking about what the fuck was going on as he immediately used all of his strength to tug the sign down. Thankfully, it was loose enough from the deer's bite that it came down.
The male immediately let go as the body of the deer slammed into the spot he was previously in, and both the monster and the sign fell down while Kenshin rolled on the ground to avoid being included in the dogpile.
But to Kenshin's dismay, the sign was quickly thrown off of the largely unscathed deer monster. This damn thing felt like something only an A-class hero could handle at least! But what did he know, he wasn't-
"AGH!"
He wasn't allowed to even finish his thought as the deer rammed straight into him, the barrels of its guns roughly pushing against his ribs as he once again went flying. The poor guy could even hear several cracks coming from his chest, yet the adrenaline prevented any drastic surges of pain from making him inebriated.
Kenshin's back once again slammed into the pavement, right onto the curb, "GAH!"
Thankfully, his spine remained largely undamaged. There was definitely some pain to be felt but his limbs were still moving just fine. Several curses nearly made their way out of his throat but he made the wise decision to conserve his energy and quickly tried to sit up.
He barely had time to see the deer running at him again, so he thought quickly, noticing the fire hydrant right next to him. His hand barely made contact with it before it disappeared. The slot machine that was supposed to be there was launched into the air by a powerful stream of water, courtesy of the missing fire hydrant. Kenshin rolled away as the deer flew past him and directly into the stream of water, launching it also into the air.
Scrambling to his feet, the male panted as he tried to put as much distance between himself and the monster as he could before it came down. He didn't even bother thinking about what the slot machine would give him, instead prioritising his survival.
The goofy monster came down quickly, and the two were back at square one. The only difference was that Kenshin was tired and injured, with two or more cracked ribs, while the monster was barely even scratched.
And still no heroes in sight...
Kenshin even lost his headphones somewhere in the squabble, not that he cared or noticed.
steelpipe.mp3
The clang of a steel pipe sounded off from Kenshin's side, a perfect, meticulous, steel pipe fell from the sky above. Probably what he got from the slot machine, and he wasn't going to waste the opportunity to get at least something to fight back with!
But the deer noticed, and immediately rushed at him!
Kenshin was nowhere near as fast, so he threw his whole body and just barely managed to grab a hold of the makeshift weapon as the deer was right on him. He quickly swung the pipe of steel as quickly as he could, managing to slam it directly against the head of the incoming monster.
[DICE: 20!]
The combat-oriented focus of Compulsive Gambler activated then and there, and as luck would have it, Kenshin managed to roll a nat 20. For once, his EX+ luck skill pulled through as the impact of his weapon created a small shockwave, sending the deer monster flying off to the side and through a building while Kenshin was thrown in the opposite direction.
"I FORGOT I HAD THAT!"
He yelled as his back, his poor, bruised back, hit the wall of the same shop that the deer destroyed. Silence reigned across the desolate street, broken only by Kenshin's heavy, laboured breaths.
But just as his luck had saved him, fate wasn't so kind today.
SLAM!
"AAAGH! I'M GETTING REAL TIRED OF THIS SHIT-"
BANG!
He was silenced by the loud BANG! of a gun as searing pain tore through his stomach. Looking down, he saw what he was expecting to see. The deer had rammed its head into him again, this time going for his stomach and shooting one of its guns. The other one was missing, a bloody splotch was left in its place. The steel pipe he used to do so much damage was nowhere to be found, likely thrown far away from his reach.
The force of the impact drove all air from Kenshin's lungs, and whatever strength he had left was felled by the sound of the gunshot, "...Go fuck yourself."
BANG!
BANG!
BANG!
Three more gunshots resounded, each widening the hole in his abdomen. Through desperation, Kenshin palmed the wall he was tightly pressed against and activated his most broken ability, hoping that through some miracle it would save him.
It didn't.
The wall disappeared and he was thrown into what appeared to be a lingerie shop, of all places.
"I'm not dying..."
The DING! of the slot machine was muted as the edges of his vision rapidly darkened.
"In a fucking..."
The slot machine disappeared, but Kenshin's attention was squarely on the deer monster, standing above him, menacingly, as if enjoying his final moments. Briefly, beautiful, pretty light reached his barely conscious brain as a ticket floated into his palm and disappeared...
"UNDERWEAR STORE!"
And then there was only darkness...
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Chipi chipi~ Chapa chapa~ Chipi chipi~ Chapa chapa~
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Opening his eyes, Kenshin found himself in the familiar sterile environment of the hospital, once again covered in bandages and with the dulled pain of his recent fight still freshly coursing through his body. The painkillers doing their job as they should.
So he was alive, good. Very nice. Splendid, even. But how? Did a hero save him? It wasn't Saitama of that he was sure, he would've felt that in his bones to be so close to so much destructive power in a single punch.
Then who?
"BREAKING NEWS!"
Oh, shit this room had a whole ass television!
Nice!
Kenshin's attention was now squarely on the TV, the broadcast shown didn't even start with the deer monster, instead, it focused on something else before quickly switching to what he was most concerned about.
But the news didn't actually provide any useful information, who would've thought? Instead, they showed the unblurred remains of the deer, its body eviscerated across the whole city block that now showed significantly more damage than when he was fighting it. Entire buildings were razed to the ground, but the most important piece of missing information was still unknown. Who the fuck killed that thing?
That's when a metaphorical lightbulb went off in Kenshin's head and he brought up his status screen.
◇──◆──◇──◆◆──◇──◆──◇
>[Name]
Kenshin
>[Age]
Irrelevant, legal.
>[Ability List]
Compulsive Gambler [N/A]
-In combat: roll a d20, the higher the number, the greater the critical strike, however, low numbers run the risk of the attack outright missing.
-Out of combat: play a variety of minigames at the cost of currency or items, each giving special rewards. The greater the risk, the greater the possible reward~
Perfect Self [EX+]
-View and edit personal attributes portraying to one's physique and even luck.
Photosynthesis] [C-]
The user can survive off of sunlight.
Autonomous Ultra Instinct [EX+]
Activated automatically at the loss of consciousness during combat. An auto-combat ability that pushes one's body beyond its limits, maximising speed, power and durability at the cost of stamina. For continued use, go into monkey mode. Do not think. Just do.
>[ATTRIBUTES]
Strength: D- -> D
Stamina: C+ -> B-
Speed: D -> D+
Charm: EX+
Ability: B -> A+
Luck: EX+
◇──◆──◇──◆◆──◇──◆──◇
"...I don't even know anymore..."
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