Chapter 228: Base Level Skill For A Reason (bonus)

Tera frowned. ’I don’t fucking know? You tell me! I am only reacting to what I’ve seen! You have used some of the clan members for my penalties. It isn’t wild to think you could do more with it if that is what it would take to make me comply.

’And you are the same system that wanted me to leave those cubs to die! You’ve shown me what you’re capable of. So yes. I believe the penalties would escalate to something that would hurt the people around me. And I will not let that happen. Not even if it means I have to be the one who goes.’

The system was quiet for a long time.

[This system is... saddened]

[That Host views this system in such a way]

[(╥_╥)]

’Don’t be silly...’

[But... the possibility of Host dying from this is high!]

’Do you really think I intend to just barge in there?! I have my own plans. An actual one. Not some nonsense "throw bodies at the monster and hope for the best." It’s a real strategy that I’ve been thinking about for weeks. And if you’d stop panicking for five minutes and actually listen, you might realise I’m not being suicidal here!’

[...This system is willing to listen]

[But this system reserves the right to panic]

[(°△°)]

Tera rolled her eyes.

The beast couldn’t be killed in the swamp, so she needed to lure it out to where she could control the terrain.

She shared this with the system.

[This is consistent with this system’s own strategic recommendations, however—]

’Your plan was to lure it out and have fifty beast-folk fight it on open ground. How dumb and ineffective is that? They won’t be able to hold it down for long. And even in your best-case scenario, beasts still die because the moment they try to bite or claw through its skin.’

[(⊙_⊙)]

[They are for distrac—]

At the scornful look in Tera’s eyes, the system paused.

Tera looked down at Calis, still sleeping peacefully on her thighs. His chest rose and fell in slow, steady breaths. The feather in her hair swayed gently.

’I intend to use pit traps. Multiple pit traps dug at specific points where the beast is likely to hop into. I have checked and calculated the numbers, which I would still have you double-check for accuracy.’

[Host...]

[The beast can simply hop out of those pits—]

’No, it wouldn’t! Those pits would be lined with sharpened bamboo stakes pointing upward. When the beast hops into one, the stakes impale it from below and hold it in place. Aside from the pits, those stakes will also be all over the ground at angles in dense clusters like a field of spears. Even if the beast tries to avoid the pits on high ground, it has to move through a kill zone where every step drives stakes into its body.’

[(????)]

[This system acknowledges the theoretical merit of this approach]

[However]

[The corrupted beast’s hopping distance is approximately forty-five feet per leap!]

[Its extendable forelimbs have a reach of twenty feet]

[Its tongue, even after Host’s previous partial amputation, retains a strike range of approximately twenty-eight feet]

[HOST CANNOT DO THIS]

’I know all of this! I studied it too!’

[Then Host understands that even with pit traps and ground stakes, the beast’s speed and reach mean that Host herself would need to outrun striking distance so as not to be caught!]

’Yes.’

[And Host’s physical speed, agility, and defensive capabilities are—]

’Be honest with me here. Are my reflexes not already as fast as its?!’

Especially after all her training, Tera had been making sure to not only increase her beast stats, but to maximise her mobility.

And she had been trying closely to match what she could according to the beast.

[...]

[(·•???•? )]

[Host?]

Tera glared. ’Answer me.’

[Yes, Host]

[But you are outclassed by every other possible margin—]

’I certainly don’t see that beast being able to open and close portals to teleport. Does it?!’

[(?`?′?)]

’Let it jump over forty feet. I can go faster. My own travel is instant.’

[This system... acknowledges that this is a viable evasion strategy]

[This system has concerns]

[Significant concerns]

[But this system can no longer claim that Host has no plan]

[There is still a significant logistical problem that Host has not addressed]

[Host’s plan relies heavily on sharpened bamboo stakes for both the pit traps and the ground-level kill zone]

[The only source of that bamboo is directly in that swamp where the corrupted beast resides]

[Host needs the bamboo to kill the beast]

[But Host needs to kill the beast to get the bamboo]

[...=???(??? ????)]

[Host is not making any sense]

Tera stared at the system.

Then she stared at it some more.

’You know, sometimes I question your intelligence.’

[??? ? ???]

[Excuse this system?!]

[This system has processing capabilities that exceed—]

’How do you think I’m going to get the bamboo?’

Tera proceeded to explain how she could simply use the teleportation portal to cut it from a safe distance and transport it somewhere else.

The system failed to understand where Tera was going with this, but she thought back to the attack.

There was something else she had come to realise when thinking over that split moment between life and death.

Cutting things aside, the portal was simply a tool that moved things from one place to another.

One just needed to be more precise about how it moves those things.

[...]

[This system is beginning to understand where Host is going with this, and this system is beyond words]

’At this point, I am not sure you really understand it until I spell it out.’

’Things move through the portal. That is its function. But what if instead of something passing through, the portal itself passes through it?’

She searched for the right comparison.

’Like a cookie cutter through dough. The portal is the cutter. The ground is the dough. And the piece inside the portal’s boundary gets pushed out the other side.’

[Is Host suggesting that the teleportation portal can be moved through solid matter to carve and extract material?]

’You should be the one confirming that for me. The fuck?!’

[Even so, how did Host possibly conceive of such a thing?!]

[(っ?︿??)]

[This system designed the teleportation function as a transit tool!]

[A door! From point A to point B!]

[Host is turning it into—]

’Into exactly what it is. What is your deal anyway?’

[This was meant to be a base level skill]

[Why is Host advancing it?!]