Canon Fodder - Chapter (479)

CHAPTER 479 BYSTANDER

EASTON

“And that’s my plan,” Weston said from the front of the conference room. Everyone stood in stunned silence. I scoffed. “Have anything to add?” He asked me.

“Yeah,” I said. “That was dumb as shit. Your whole plan was go to America and get all the guilds together. You didn’t explain anything.”

“I’m not risking this shit getting out right now,” Weston said. Barely caring that in the mind’s of those around us he was talking to himself. They still thought I was one of his shadow clones. “I will fill in those that need to know, like Chairman Go.” He pointed at the old man sitting in front. He looked like a retired bodybuilder. Wearing a tailored suit he radiated full faith in Weston, hardly questioning what he was saying. I was pretty sure they had some kind of gay relationship. Although knowing myself, it was probably more of a father/son deal, but who knew what he had been up to for a year?

“Fuck you,” he added, reading my mind.

“No, fuck you,” I said. “Our plan is shit, and you know it.”

“East…” He said, closing his eyes. “This is not the time or place.” He and I had talked about his plan originally, and he said he would work on it, but apparently he hadn’t. Knowing myself, he was probably spitballing. “There are a lot of Hunters out there. I have ideas, but we have kept ourselves secretive for too long. There is a reason Hunters awoke on this planet, and it wasn’t because of the Monarchs. There is something out there that can help us.”

I frowned, he had me there. One thing I didn’t understand in the original manhwa was why the protagonist were so secretive. Everything landed on the back of the main character, whose name I still couldn’t remember. He wasn’t in the meeting at the moment, Weston having sent him on another mission already. Either way, manhwa was always dependent on the main character. Problem was, Weston and I tended to monkey with the worlds a little. Sometimes stifling the original protagonist’s growth a teeny tiny bit. From what I could see, the me in this world said jump and people asked for permission before they actually did it.

“I will have a report for everyone tonight,” the old man said as he stood. The other guildleaders focused on him, obviously respecting the man more than Weston. “In the meantime, I suggest you book passage to America.” He looked to one of the aides that had been whispering to him. “I am told that an announcement has already been made by the United Nations. They are calling this an impromptu meeting. In hopes of fostering the United Guilds they have been pushing.”

There was a lot of drama going on in the world I wasn’t privy to. Weston’s shadow clone had tried to explain it to me in Walking Dead world, but it was different to actually be there. I could finally put faces to names, and was getting a feel for the people. One thing I knew for sure was other Weston had seriously downplayed how much he pissed the other guilds off. Each one stared at him like they wanted to kill him. Either some slight during the last few months, or he had cut off too many toes, I didn’t know. I did know I was glad my Shi’ar Armor had holographic capabilities. I wouldn’t have to walk around with his face on if I didn’t need to. Which reminded me, I had a new Status Screen. I pulled it up.

Solo Leveling

Name

Weston Woon

Level

81

Job

N/A

Fatigue

0

Title

None

HP

21,514

MP

35,592

Strength

243

Vitality

243

Agility

246

Intelligence

249

Sense

201

Free Pts.

0

Skills

I had escaped with the people from the Hunter Guild, and was given the Player Passive Skill. It scanned my body and automatically assigned stats. Which meant I could begin to level up and earn some skills on my own. Since Weston was used to stepping on toes and he had a lot of protection thanks to the Korean Hunter Association, I felt that extended to me as well.

“Hey, I’m gonna go wander around,” I said, pushing through the people around Weston.

“Alright,” he said. “I’ll Chat you when we are leaving.” We hadn’t used it much but our Chat Passive Skill was already proving invaluable. Walked Dead and Omniscient Reader had been annoying since we couldn’t keep in touch.

“I think I might just fly there,” I said. “I’ll let you know.” He nodded and looked to the blonde girl next to him. She radiated love for him, and he eyed her with a mix of worry and love. Frowning, I had to remind myself not to fall into any of his women. It was easy to see who they were by their Haki. A few women guildmasters in the room had been in his bed, because they exuded so much lust it made me a little uncomfortable. Since I was the spitting image of him, they gave me the same looks, but I didn’t want any part of whatever penalty he would put on me if I fell into one of their beds.

I used Zetsu, pulling in my Nen to make myself less noticeable. As I did, I made my way outside of the large building. Workers bowed at me as I passed, I waved, kind of unsure what to do here. In Omniscient Reader my past-self had been a rich-kid. Everyone bowed to him. Should I have been saluting or bowing back?

In the end it didn’t matter. After I got outside I noticed a huge line of reporters but flew off. The city pretty alive, Seoul was far different than the one I had left in Omniscient Reader.

No giant monsters loose, no burning skyscrapers, poison fog, and far less floating demons, it was pretty. But right then I wanted monsters to kill since I was a Player. I seriously considered world jumping for the next few hours until things got bad again. I could go to one of the other worlds and fight monsters to gain more levels, but I really had no idea what parts of the stories Weston was at.

In the end, I simply flew this way and that. I knew dungeons were rather common. Maybe I could get lucky and stumble upon one. Scanning the area with my Observation Haki, the real skill that was helping me was Rift.

With the skill I was able to open doorways that skipped space but also opened up into new dimensions. One thing I noticed when we escaped the dungeon portal earlier, is that my Rift reacted to the dungeon portal as well. Just like when that dimensional attack was thrown at us on the Shi’ar world. My Rift skill called to it, as if it wanted to do the same.

A part of me guessed maybe I could go to new dimensions but had been too hesitant to try. Manipulating the power was a risk. I knew the dungeon portals sent you to different worlds, and each world usually had giant monsters in them. I really didn’t want to mess around and open a portal into a world like Cthulhu world in Invincible. But a part of me knew I had to try. I had to get stronger, and learning to go to new worlds was part of that.

It took time but I eventually found one of the dungeon portals. It was in the center of a park. Police tape far away from it, there was a security car stationed nearby. Nighttime currently, they didn’t worry too much about someone jumping in. Proving why it has been so easy for other Weston to piss other guilds off.

Smiling to myself I dropped down by the portal. It was about twelve feet tall and ten feet wide. In the shape of an oval it was perpendicular to the ground. At the center it was a blue swirling vortex and the outer part was black that mixed in with the blue.

Closing my eyes I couldn’t sense much from it with my energies, but my Rift skill was going haywire. It pulsed with the swirl of the vortex. An ever constant calling that became stronger as I stood close to it.

Normally I simply thought about a distance away from me and shot out my Rift skill. Having received it in a lab accident I used the power for evil, but current me wanted to try to use it for less evil.

As I stood near the portal I changed my mindset. The whole point of portals was to ignore distances. I wasn’t sure if it would take me to a new dimension or other world, either way it would take me somewhere. I needed to copy what those could do.

“Maybe,” I said, my eyes focused on the cyclone at the center. It reminded me slightly of the Uzumaki test back in Naruto World all those years ago. I had spent months encased in water, trying to understand it.  Eventually able to completely ignore the whirlpool as I became one with the water.

“The eye,” I mumbled as I stared at the center of the portal. I focused on only it. The point that was always the least chaotic in a storm, but was the most with portals. It was the centerpoint of the energy as if it was drilling into space itself…

Suddenly my Rift shot out of me. As if called to the portal it began to mix with the energy. Adding a new red color to it.

“Shit,” I said, trying to pull it back in, but the Rift was in the whirlpool. Combining with the portal, becoming one with it. “Fuck, fuck, fuck,” I mumbled. I assumed people were on the other side. I hoped I hadn’t trapped them somehow, cutting ties to this portal in some way.

As I cursed I began to feel the familiar Rift. Pulling it away from the portal the red split away as if a tornado breaking from the cyclone. The bottom tip of the twister, reaching into my chest.

“Come on,” I said, unsure what I was struggling with. My Rift was coming back to me though. Slowly but surely it was separating, no longer mixing with the black and blue of the portal.

With a pop it was released and shot back into me. The Rift going dormant inside. “What the shit,” I mumbled. Taking in deep breaths I didn’t feel as much of a calling from the portal. My Rift skill almost felt uninterested now.

“What the fuck are you?” I asked my power. Thinking about it I opened a door into my subspace. The door came far easier to me, but instead of a black outline for the rip in space it was now red.

“Wha…” I asked and opened another Rift. This time I thought of farther away. Instantly a red portal appeared. On the other side of it was the river that moved through Seoul. That was miles away. A way farther distance than I had meant to send the Rift.

“Did I just get an upgrade?” I mumbled. I looked at my screen but didn’t notice any changes to the Rift skill. No asterisk or anything. “Maybe my Rift always had this capability,” I mumbled. “I just needed a…specimen,” I said as I stared at the portal. Which didn’t make sense, I stepped through doors that took me to different dimensions all the time.

Unsure what could have caused this I thought on it until someone yelled at me. “Weston! Is that you?!” Someone roared. Their voice filled with anger. I gulped and didn’t bother to see who it was. Shooting off into the sky I thought on my Rift power as I soared over the city.

Lost in thought it wasn’t until I felt a spike of fear that I broke out of my thoughts. Down below me I noticed the scared person. Walking down a busy street, a van had stopped right next to her. Three men jumping out, they tried to grab her but she slipped out of their hands.

Yelling for help, I was on the assailants in an instant. Punching each one across the face they bounced on the concrete and were knocked out.

“Woops,” I mumbled. I had basically been given this strength. I wasn’t used to the body yet. Having put far too much into the blow, I needed to add everyday activities to my regiment before I did anything too big.

“Weston?” A voice asked from behind. I turned to see the girl that had almost been kidnapped.

“Does everyone know me here?” I asked myself. It felt like he had pissed off or slept with most people I ran into. As I faced her I noticed that Weston hadn’t slept with this girl at least. Rather than lust she radiated love. But not the sex kind that I was used to feeling, more familiar.

She ran to me and hugged me. “Thank you, I thought I was a goner.”

“Uh yeah,” I said, studying her. She was rather pretty, but young. Maybe 19 or so she had gray eyes and brown hair. Skinny as can be she was wearing a green dress that went down to her knees. “What happened?”

“No idea,” she said. “You think they wanted to ransom me?”

“I don’t know. Are you famous?”

“Ha!” She laughed, hitting my shoulder. I frowned, not sure who she was. “Should we call the police?”

“I think someone already did,” I said, pointing to the crowd. The can had driven off but the men were knocked out hard. “I’m not in the mood to deal with that. You good to get home?” I began to rise in the air.

“You’re not taking me home after that?!” She yelled a little familiar.

“I…can,” I said. Unsure how to explain I didn’t know who she was. I dropped down. “Princess carry or piggie back ride?”

“Piggie back,” she said without hesitation. Moving to my back I held onto her knees and lifted off. She yelled then caught herself, changing it into a laugh. “Where’s your water?” She asked, looking at my feet.

“Puddle flying is lame. I learned to do without,” I said over my shoulder.

“You’re already getting stronger,” she said. Shaking her head I guessed she was close to Weston. But as she held onto my back I thought it was more of a friend vibe. Maybe she was someone he knew before he came to the world.

“Where to?” I asked.

“Well home is that way,” she said, pointing the opposite direction. “But now that I’m here, I don’t want to go.” She snuggled up into my neck making me get a little nervous and excited.

“Then stay,” I said with a shrug continuing straight. We were heading East over the city. She was quiet for longer than I thought she would be. Her Haki still shaken by the kidnapping attempt.

“I can’t believe you saved me,” she mumbled.

“Why’s that?”

“I don’t know. I’ve been hearing all these other stories of you saving people. I thought you forgot about little old me,” she said.

“How could I forget about you?” I laughed, mildly nervous. “You’re that…girl.”

“That girl?” She laughed. “Is that all I am to you?”

“No, you’re my perfect backpack,” I said, lifting her legs a little.

She laughed far more than the joke warranted. Her mouth near my ear she asked, “where are we going?”

“I’m going to America,” I said truthfully. “We have a big guild meeting there tomorrow.”

“Really? Is this about the thing I saw on the news?” She asked.

“Probably,” I said. “We need to meet a bunch of people there tomorrow.”

“Quite the distance, you got a plane?” She asked.

“No, I was just going to fly there,” I said.

“Fly there illegally?!” She asked, getting excited. “No passports or anything?”

“Yeah, I hadn’t thought of that,” I admitted. “Do I really need one? I mean, I’m strong.”

“True, you’re one of the strongest people in the world,” she said. “Does that mean I can come with?”

“Uhhh I mean, if you want,” I said with a shrug. I had enjoyed my time with Linda across the world in Walking Dead. “Do you need to call someone?”

“My mom wasn’t expecting me home tonight,” she said, hope in her voice. “I can call her though. Will you take me with you? Please Weston. Pretty please?”

“Sure,” I said. “But you’ll have to hold on. I’m gonna speed up if we are going to get there in time.”

“Okay,” she whispered, holding on tight. Her arms around my neck, her legs wrapped around my front. Excited as I gained speed. As I did she yelled out in joy and exultation, ready for her own adventure, whoever she was.