— — — — — —
Calm Belt — Rusukaina Island.
This was a wild island where the seasons changed 48 times a year.
Legend had it that, long ago, there was once a thriving kingdom on Rusukaina. But in the end, humanity had lost to the forces of nature. Now, the only inhabitants left were monstrous, ferocious beasts.
And yet, right now — on this deserted island so dangerous that even the battle-hardened Kuja Tribe living nearby preferred to stay away — things were oddly lively.
"Cheers~!" ×7
After taking a sip of fruit juice, Fujiwara Chika set down her cup. She picked up a knife and sliced off a piece of the massive roasted beast leg — one that was easily thicker than her entire body — and popped it into her mouth. Instantly, her eyes lit up.
"Whoa, this kinda tastes like beef... but the texture? It's way better than even top-grade A5 wagyu Beef!"
"Of course it is," Hancock said proudly, clearly pleased that her preparations to welcome her friends hadn't gone to waste.
"This is one of the best-tasting beasts I've found on Rusukaina — and I've spent over a year here figuring that out. Among all the monsters I can hunt now, this one's in the top two."
"Hmm..."
"It really is amazing~"
Lady Avalon, Merlin, gracefully weaving her magic into a thread and slicing a piece of meat mid-air with just a gesture, also gave it high praise after tasting it.
With them setting the mood, the others like Veyron naturally followed suit.
First bite.
Absolutely delicious — crispy on the outside, tender and juicy on the inside.
The natural flavor of the meat was enhanced by a few simple seasonings, creating a taste that felt nothing short of miraculous.
Second bite, third bite...
Mid-chew, Veyron suddenly froze, staring at the meat in his hand in surprise.
"Ha~ looks like you're the first to notice something special about this meat, huh, Veyron?" Merlin teased, eyes narrowing playfully.
"...Didn't you already notice it yourself?" Veyron raised an eyebrow and stuffed the remaining meat into his mouth.
"Special? What do you mean? Is there something wrong with the meat?"
"Huh??"
Hearing their exchange, everyone else — including Chika, Gwen, and Selina — paused mid-bite, a little startled.
As the host, Hancock's expression immediately darkened. "Impossible! I've been eating this stuff for ages and never noticed anything weird!"
"Relax, relax. What Merlin and I meant by 'special' probably isn't what you're thinking," Veyron quickly explained. "What I'm talking about is... this meat seems to digest way faster than the meat from my world."
"For real?"
Gwen cut off a huge slab of meat — easily two or three pounds — and wolfed it down. After patting her still-flat stomach, she blinked in surprise. "Huh... now that you mention it... you might be right?"
"These two beasts aren't the same species, are they?"
Merlin pointed to the other untouched monster lying nearby — still mostly intact aside from a missing leg — and asked Hancock, "Mind if we try that one too?"
"Coming right up!"
Hancock leapt to her feet, sliced off a chunk from the beast's hind leg, and set it over the fire.
Soon after...
As the group tasted the second beast's meat, Merlin came to a conclusion.
It suddenly made sense — why people in Hancock's world could drastically improve their physical abilities just through persistent training, even doing nothing more than basic workouts like running, push-ups, sit-ups, or frog jumps.
Back when the chat group hadn't upgraded yet, members from other worlds had only gotten bits and pieces of information from Hancock's stories.
Their guess had been that maybe this world's environment was just naturally suited for body training, and most people were born with decent talent for it.
But now...
Sure, talent mattered. But the influence of this world's easily digestible, nutrient-packed meat couldn't be overlooked either.
"So basically... if we just keep eating this meat while training, we can boost our physical abilities several times over — maybe even dozens of times— compared to a normal person?"
As the only genuine "normal human" in the chat group before Veyron joined, Chika Fujiwara instantly zeroed in on the key point.
"Judging by how the average folks in this world are doing, I'd say doubling or even tripling your physical abilities shouldn't be too difficult. Anything beyond that would probably depend on your own talent though," Merlin said, her stunning purple eyes flashing.
"Merlin... trust me, even doubling might sound minor to you, but for people like us? Heck, even a ten or twenty percent improvement would be huge!"
Chika clasped her hands together and looked over at Veyron. "Right, Veyron-san?"
"Right."
Veyron nodded without hesitation.
"Hold on a sec," Selina suddenly pointed out, "Sure, the system calls him an 'Ordinary person'... but are we really gonna sit here and pretend a guy who noticed the special properties of this meat after just a few bites still counts as 'ordinary' like you?"
"If that's how we're counting things, then I should be able to sit at your ordinary table too. I mean, my physical abilities haven't exactly hit the theoretical human limit either... at least, I'm still a bit short when it comes to raw strength."
"..."
Naturally, with all that being said, everyone's attention shifted straight to Veyron.
Veyron calmly said. "…Well, it's true that in my world, there are gods, yokai, priests, shrine maidens, and all sorts of people who train in spiritual arts or faith-based powers. But when I first joined the group, I really was just a regular guy who'd practiced swordsmanship for a few years."
At this point, Veyron paused for a second, then added, "But... it's only been a few days since then. You guys haven't forgotten about the draw I did thanks to Miss Merlin's sponsorship, right?"
"You mean... the Gene Lock?"
Fubuki recalled seeing that phrase in the description back when he did the lottery draw.
"Yep."
Veyron nodded."Once you unlock the first stage of the Gene Lock, it massively improves your control and precision over your own body."
"..."
Fujiwara Chika absentmindedly fiddled with the ring on her finger.
It was an ancient-looking ring, designed with a big green flower pattern, and it had the effect of speeding up stamina recovery.
That was her reward from the same lottery draw.
Sure, ever since she got this ring, she'd basically forgotten what it felt like to be tired — which was pretty crazy in itself — but compared to Veyron's Gene Lock...
Yeah, forget it. No point even trying to compare.
.
.
.