Photosynthetic ability

Issho shook his head and ignored him. Without a word, he went on playing driver, guiding the wooden boat slowly downward. Before long, Bullet spotted them from below.

"They actually came down from the sky." Bullet's heart sank. That meant both of them were ability users.

And neither was an ordinary ability user. Judging by how one of them had just killed Darnell in an instant, they were strong!

He wasn't sure whether he could beat them or escape in his current state.

Once the boat had descended to a certain height, Vidal first used a branch to bring the Combine-Combine Fruit into his hand, then smiled at Bullet.

"What are you standing there for? Come on, we're here to pick you up!"

"What? Pick me up?!" Bullet went on high alert. These two wanted to take him away? Were they slave traders?

"Come aboard first. I'll find you somewhere to eat and get your injuries treated. Then I'll explain why we're here."

Then, in a very gentle tone, Vidal said, "A smart kid like you should understand you have no right to refuse right now. Don't make me tie you up and bring you aboard myself."

"You!" Bullet's expression was terrible. The threat was completely undisguised, but there was nothing he could do.

"Were you the one controlling those trees just now?"

"That's right, it was me." Vidal nodded readily. "My name's Vidal. Let's get along from now on."

As he spoke, he casually withdrew the branches binding Darnell to prove it, tossing the long-lifeless corpse into the depths of the darkness.

"Damn it!"

Bullet really couldn't accept this. He desperately wanted to resist, but his years of battlefield experience had taught him one thing: only by staying alive could anything else be possible.

So in the end, he obediently leaped aboard the boat and let them take him away.

Bullet looked down at the forested mountains receding beneath him and thought, Getting out of the encirclement this easily is a good thing, at least.

He knew perfectly well that countless pursuers from different backgrounds, all with the same goal, were hidden in the vast, dark mountain forest.

"Let's leave Garuzburg Island first and find a place to catch and roast some wild animals. This kid must be starving."

After speaking to Issho beside him, he turned to Bullet with a smile. "Am I right?"

"Hmph!"

[Grrooowl—]

Bullet turned his head away, wearing an indifferent expression as if he wanted nothing to do with him, but his stomach honestly confirmed his hunger with a rumble. Embarrassed, he wanted to punch Vidal.

"Hahahahaha!" Vidal laughed without regard for the boy's increasingly livid face, then stepped closer.

"What are you doing?!"

Bullet bristled like a startled wildcat, immediately retreating as he glared at Vidal with extreme vigilance.

"Stay still, you brat! Your wounds have opened up!"

When Bullet saw Vidal reaching out with his palm, he instinctively tried to dodge, only to find that he couldn't move.

All he could do was watch as the man several heads taller than him leisurely placed his palm against his bare shoulder. Bitter resentment and unwillingness filled his heart.

Have I gotten so weak that I can't even dodge that?

Or is this man actually so fast that my body can't react at all?

It had to be said that exhaustion, hunger, and thirst had left Bullet somewhat muddleheaded. He hadn't even noticed the strips of wood wrapped around his legs.

As it turned out, the instant Vidal moved, he had made several strips of wood extend from the deck beneath them to bind Bullet's legs and feet.

"Ugh—"

When the warm palm touched his somewhat chilled skin, Bullet couldn't help letting out a soft moan.

He didn't know how to describe the wondrous sensation that came over him at that moment.

Comfortable, truly comfortable. It was as though a warm spring enveloped him, and little by little, his eyes drifted shut.

Warmth and comfort. It was as though every cell in his body was cheering and singing, and his nerves, which had been stretched as taut as steel for over a decade, began to relax at that moment.

"Has he fallen asleep?"

Issho smiled as he looked at Bullet, whose skin was giving off a faint green glow, his wounds healing at a speed visible to the naked eye.

It was the first time he had seen this ability of Vidal's.

"Yeah, let him get a good sleep. I doubt he's slept peacefully in a long time."

Seeing Bullet sleeping on his feet, Vidal continued controlling the wooden strips around his feet, making them rapidly expand into a smooth, flat wooden bed.

He gently laid Bullet on the bed. There was no blanket or anything, though it wasn't that he couldn't make one.

The weather was still fine, and the kid probably wasn't that delicate.

"What kind of ability is that?" Issho finally voiced his curiosity. "I thought your ability was controlling trees?"

"Nothing much. It's just an application involving a deeper level of energy. I like to call it 'Photosynthetic Energy.'"

After speaking, Vidal gazed at Garuzburg Island as it receded into the distance. He felt he probably wouldn't come back here again.

"Issho, how far is it to the nearest island?"

"That depends on whether you want one with people or without. There are quite a few small islands nearby, but they probably all belong to one faction or another."

"For an uninhabited wild island, we'd probably have to fly farther."

Vidal thought for a moment. "Let's find an uninhabited island. Knowing what this kid's thinking, he won't be satisfied until he fights me."

With someone who had grown up in a wartime environment, talking with his fists worked far better than reasoning.

Vidal looked at Bullet sleeping soundly on the wooden bed and smiled.

"Hope the kid has better luck. Otherwise, if we still haven't found a suitable island by the time he wakes up, he can forget about meat. He'll have to make do with some fresh fruit!"

Bullet slept for a long time, far longer than Vidal had expected. By morning, Vidal and Issho were both awake, but he still wasn't.

They hadn't come across any islands that night, either. Though Paradise wasn't large compared to the world as a whole, it was still a sea.

Issho was fine. He carried plenty of packaged udon noodles and seasonings, so all he had to do was boil them in hot water to enjoy steaming noodles whenever he wanted.

Right now, he was sitting at a small wooden table that had appeared at some point, happily eating breakfast with chopsticks.

Vidal didn't need any food. At most, he might eat some fruit when he felt like it, but back home, Ms. Enid always liked to make him a heap of meat dishes.

"Looks like this kid built up too much stress. Both his body and his mind need plenty of rest and recovery."

Vidal guessed that his Photosynthetic Energy had activated Bullet's bodily self-repair functions.

Previously, the strong-willed Bullet had kept those functions suppressed, constantly fighting and training despite his exhaustion and injuries. Now that his conscious mind was asleep, his body had seized the chance to rest as much as possible.

It was a living creature's instinct.

Still, this meant that by the time he woke up, he should be more or less back in shape. In particular, most of the hidden injuries inside his body would have healed.

Actually, I don't want to keep asking for recommendations and comments, but as a newcomer, I don't have much choice. I hope all you great readers can understand.

I checked the light novel category rankings for new books by public authors. This book is currently thirty-ninth, and it's nowhere to be found in the overall rankings, so if you've read this far and think, "Hey, it's pretty good," please give it more support. Thank you.