Twenty-four hours had passed. Since they were no longer on Earth, day and night had lost all meaning!
For the past few days, all they'd done was watch the hours tick by.
The spaceship began to slow down, and a planet made almost entirely of rock appeared before Karochi and Tights!
Behemoth was the planet Tights wanted to explore! Karochi had agreed to go with her.
"Come on, let's take a small craft down. Once the ship lands, it'll take a lot of energy to break free of the planet's gravity. We still have a long way to go, so we can't afford to waste too much." Tights had already put on her spacesuit.
If they were short on energy, shouldn't they just keep going? Wouldn't stopping and accelerating again waste just as much?
Karochi wisely kept quiet. After all, her family had funded the construction of the ship! He'd only contributed a sample.
But Karochi soon noticed a small problem. "Tights, are we taking one ship down together?"
"Isn't that obvious? You said there are beings on this planet with over a thousand in battle power! What if something happens to me down there on my own?" Tights said, as if it were only natural.
Uh... Wasn't it a little cramped for that?
The craft was designed for one person. Two could ride in it, but there wasn't much room.
They were bound to touch while sitting together. Karochi might have looked five, but inside, he was nearly thirty.
Tights looked like she belonged behind bars—possibly facing the death penalty.
But Karochi hesitated for only two and a half seconds before climbing straight in! He nestled into Tights' arms.
As if! Who wasn't a kid once? I'm only five. What could I possibly be thinking?
Mm, so soft.
Tights wasn't very comfortable with Karochi using her as a pillow, and his tail wasn't behaving itself, either!
"Keep that tail under control, or I'll cut it off," Tights warned him.
Karochi immediately settled down.
"Hmph." Tights shut the hatch. "We're about to take off. Sit tight!"
A spherical craft launched and entered Behemoth's atmosphere.
There was quite a difference in the shock absorption. The violent shaking was impossible to miss.
If Tights hadn't been holding him, he would probably have banged his head.
Friction with the atmosphere generated intense heat. A red tail of fire tore across the sky, leaving a brilliant streak as the craft shot straight toward the ground.
Karochi couldn't help shrinking back. Even after two landings, he still hated this method of travel! It always felt like he was jumping off a building to kill himself.
But the crash he expected never came. At about three meters above the ground, the craft changed course and began gliding horizontally just above the surface.
Wow! Dr. Brief had really thought of everything. That was so considerate! Heart eyes.
Tights was getting uncomfortable with Karochi squashing her, so she kicked him away. "Are you trying to crush your big sister to death!?" She was furious. Was the kid deliberately taking advantage of her?
She really didn't believe Karochi was afraid of this sort of thing!
Karochi hit the hatch, but didn't look embarrassed. He could swear on his life he hadn't been taking advantage of her! He was still a kid—why was she treating him like this?
The craft gradually came to a stop. Dr. Brief, you get a thumbs-up. Smooth landing!
Karochi was the first to climb out. The ship's records said the planet was suitable for humans, but there wasn't even a tree in sight. How could there be oxygen? He had his doubts.
His first impression was that it was hot! Damn, when they'd been coming down, he hadn't noticed that this lousy planet sat between two stars of equal mass. It only rotated; it didn't orbit either star. It was daytime all year round, with no nights.
And the strangest thing was that it hadn't been torn apart by the immense gravity of the two stars! Instead, it had gravity similar to Earth's, and even the air was almost identical.
Tights climbed out of the craft, then casually stored it in a capsule!
Capsules inside capsules, and so many capsules! Karochi grumbled to himself.
"It's incredible. Life can survive on a planet with almost no water or trees, and the air is suitable, too." Tights spread her arms and exclaimed.
This was the kind of space travel she'd wanted! Discovering new things, seeing the unseen and hearing the unheard—the joy of exploring the unknown.
Click! Click!
Tights picked up the camera hanging at her chest and snapped away.
"Um, Tights, aren't you hot?" Karochi was so hot he was panting, but Tights didn't seem to feel the heat at all!
Did she have some kind of superpower?
"Hm? No. Did you forget the spell Kami cast on me? It seems to be permanent. Unless the temperature is truly extreme, I won't feel uncomfortable." Tights gave him a playful look.
Damn! That's amazing! You should've told me earlier. I would've asked Kami to do the same for me! But now it was too damn late.
Tights activated Karochi's Scouter, which detected battle power.
"Karochi! There's an energy reading southeast—1,000 kilometers away! The reading is 3,500!" Tights exclaimed. She knew that even Karochi, at the end of his training at the Lookout, had only reached 2,700 in battle power.
The first being they'd found on this planet already had greater battle power than he did, and there were even stronger readings—over 4,000—farther away.
Karochi shaded his eyes from the sun and yawned. "I noticed it ages ago, before the craft even landed!"
If this had happened three days ago, Karochi wouldn't have thought twice before taking Tights and running. But now? What was there to fear? As long as no one with a battle power over ten thousand showed up, he'd gladly take them on. Even someone at ten thousand would be fine.
"So what should we do? Should we try to make contact?" Tights asked.
As if! If you'd asked that like a real question, I might've thought you were discussing it with me. You've already decided—why even ask?
Karochi didn't answer. Instead, he scooped Tights up in a bridal carry, enveloped himself in surging power, and charged toward the energy source.
He moved so fast that he kicked up a cloud of dust.
He was now several times faster than he'd been three days ago. It didn't take him long to find the nearest energy source.
But both Karochi and Tights were a little disappointed. The creature didn't seem to be very intelligent. It looked more like a minotaur from a fantasy world, only considerably shorter. Its skin was red, and it had a pair of brown horns on its head.
"Uh, Tights, should we try talking to it? It looks like it's about to eat. Maybe we can snag a bite." The bull-headed creature was holding a bone club in its left hand, smashing it against the body of a dead dinosaur-like animal!
Karochi was curious to find out what dinosaur tasted like!
Tights gave him a disdainful look. She really didn't understand the world of food lovers! He'd try anything and want to taste everything. Wasn't he worried about poisoning himself or something?
If Karochi knew that was what Tights was thinking, he'd probably have scoffed to himself: Your brother-in-law roasts humanoid creatures' limbs and eats them, and he still hasn't caught athlete's foot in his mouth!
Tights frowned deeply. There was no way this bull-headed creature looked capable of holding a normal conversation.
"Come on, let's see if we can communicate. Maybe we can!"
"All right. You're the boss. Whatever you say!"
Holding Tights in his arms, Karochi jumped down from the mountain. The bull-headed creature on the ground jumped in fright!
When it saw Karochi and Tights, it clearly froze for a moment. Then it stared straight at Tights, making her skin crawl.
"Hey, buddy! What are you doing? Want a light?" Karochi spoke first, waving a hand to block its view!
Hey, hey, hey! What's this creep doing? He won't stop staring at my sister. Is something wrong with him?
The bull-headed monster flew into a rage when its view was blocked. It swung the club down with its left hand, and the ground split open as clouds of dust billowed up.
"Tights, it doesn't seem too happy to see us. Should we get out of here?" Karochi scratched his head. He couldn't understand what it was saying—or maybe it didn't have any written language at all.
Tights felt the same way. Besides, the bull-headed monster's stare had made her very uncomfortable!
She was just about to nod when the monster suddenly charged in and swung its club at Karochi, aiming for his head. It clearly meant to strike hard.
"Watch out!!!!" Tights cried. She hadn't expected it to attack without warning.
Karochi caught the club without caring about the spikes on it, then spun around and hurled the monster away! It crashed straight into a mound of rocks.
"Damn it, what's wrong with you? We were talking, and you just started swinging!" Karochi was furious. What kind of stupid race was this? Did being a minotaur make it so special?
"Karochi, be careful. It doesn't seem friendly!" Tights moved behind him. She was too weak; if the monster tried to attack her, she wouldn't be able to fight back at all.
Karochi waved a hand. "It's fine. A bull-headed creature like that can't cause much trouble!"
The bull-headed creature that had been hurled away got back up and watched Karochi warily! It seemed reluctant to attack again, but its next move left Karochi and Tights dumbfounded.
It pointed at Tights, then at the ground beside itself. Then it pointed at Karochi and gestured toward the sky!
What did that mean? Did it want Tights to stay and be its slave, while Karochi got lost?
"Y-you bastard!!!" Tights had evidently figured out what it meant, and roared in fury.
Karochi was even more direct. He used High-Speed Movement to appear in front of the creature, and slapped it hard before it could react!
Smack! The tremendous crack sent the bull-headed creature spinning in place.
"Pah! You ugly bastard, dreaming big, are you? Keys are two yuan apiece, ten for three—do you even deserve to buy one!?" Karochi was furious. That piece of trash really thought it could get away with anything just because it'd been given an inch!
Who did it think it was? Still furious, Karochi kicked it hard and sent it flying a hundred meters. The tremendous impact raised clouds of dust.
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