Chapter 76: Group Event
"Haaah… Son of a—five days and five nights of grinding, and I finally cleared this damn game. Thank god my constitution's been enhanced, or I'd have dropped dead days ago."
Ryū let out a long, heavy exhale. A smile finally crept onto his face.
After sinking nearly ten thousand Points into physical enhancement, pulling five consecutive all-nighters carried zero risk of sudden death. Apart from bathroom breaks and meals, he hadn't rested for a single minute.
On his desk sat a laptop—a gaming laptop, specifically.
Tatsumaki had sent it to him. It came loaded with over a dozen major single-player titles, all exclusive to the One-Punch Man world. Games that had never existed on the Earth of his previous life.
And that was the "brilliant" method he'd devised—a way to kick back and relax while simultaneously training his Haki. Using Observation Haki's predictive sense to play video games was basically hacking; he'd brutalized every AI opponent.
He'd cranked the difficulty to the most nightmarish setting from the very start: Inferno Mode.
Credit where it was due—the game's difficulty was genuinely punishing. Even with his Low-tier Observation Haki layered on top of his superhuman reflexes, it had taken him five straight days and nights to clear it and obliterate the final boss.
The difficulty was at least several dozen times harder than a certain wolf-themed souls-like. Then again, that made sense—the One-Punch Man world was full of heroes with superhuman reaction times. Come to think of it, was this game designed for heroes?
After all, an "Inferno Mode" this absurdly punishing would take an ordinary person—even a skilled one—months to clear at minimum. Anyone less talented might need an entire year. Their screen would just be the word "DEAD" on infinite repeat.
Ryū glanced at the desk calendar beside him—five pages had been torn off. He stretched luxuriantly, every bone in his body popping in a satisfying cascade.
Gaming as Haki training. I really am a genius.
This is absolutely NOT because I'm too lazy to train the normal way.
Ryū was quite sure he was a very diligent person.
Why would he ever want to be some dreamless salted fish—the kind that ate until full, slept until waking, and repeated the cycle?
As for Armament Haki—he'd been practicing that too. Every time he tapped the keyboard, all ten fingers were coated in a thin layer of Armament Haki, calibrated to the absolute minimum force necessary to avoid accidentally punching a hole through the laptop.
Two birds, one stone. Truly a stroke of genius.
He was quite the little prodigy, if he did say so himself.
Ryū quietly closed the gaming laptop, which had been running nonstop for five days and was now alarmingly hot to the touch.
He grabbed the cup of water beside him and tipped it back.
From roughly one in the morning until now—past eight AM—he hadn't had a single drop of water. That final boss battle demanded absolute focus. He couldn't afford to let his guard down for even a second, or all that progress would've gone to waste.
* * *
Just as Ryū was about to plug the laptop in to charge, a notification chime rang in his mind—the Dimensional Chat Group.
There hadn't been any Group Quests these past few days, and nothing unusual had happened. But the chat members had been flooding the group with messages as enthusiastically as ever. Even Tatsumaki, who'd only joined days ago, and Ying Zheng, who lived in ancient China, had been rapidly assimilated into the shitposting army.
Edward Newgate: "The chat group just pinged. Scared the hell out of me—I was on the toilet. Rushed in to check what's going on."
Edward Newgate: "Wouldn't want to accidentally miss something."
The Eternally Seventeen-Year-Old Maiden: "This one was eating roasted Sea King meat when the notification came. Logged in immediately."
Kaguya-sama: "Group Event? What's this? I think the chat group does have this feature, but it's never actually triggered before."
Crazy Diamond: "Popping in during class. Don't need to pay attention anyway. Feels good~"
The Little Wandering Planet: "At this moment, one beat-up little planet is quietly passing through."
Terrible Tornado: "I was just fighting a Demon-level monster. Killed it without breaking a sweat, then heard the chat group ping. What's going on?"
We, Ying Zheng: "At this moment, one bitterly overworked Emperor is passing through."
Green Grasslands Wolf King: "At this moment, one wolf dropping his son off at school is passing through."
RawrSoFierce: "At this moment, one Admin who just ground games for five days straight is shambling through like a zombie."
After popping into the group chat, Ryū turned his attention to the "Group Event" tab. The feature had always been prominently placed in the interface, but it had never once activated—to the point where he'd completely forgotten it existed.
And yet today, out of nowhere, it had pinged.
Genuinely bizarre. A little head-scratching, even.
Ryū tapped the little red notification dot beside "Group Event."
A wall of text appeared:
[ Group Event: Children's Day Extravaganza ]
Children's Day is 5 days away!
The Group Event "Children's Day Extravaganza" will soon commence!
On the day of the event, the Admin may select one Activity World.
All group members will receive a FREE Dimensional Transfer!
Food, drinks, entertainment… ALL FREE!
Duration: 3 days. After 3 days, all members auto-return to their home worlds.
Available Activity Worlds:
1. "xxx Sutra"
2. "One-Punch x Man"
3. "Night xxx"
NOTE: As this event celebrates Children's Day,
members under age 12 will receive a Rare Gift Pack upon entry!
Ryū: ???
A Children's Day event. The sheer meme potential was already overflowing. The fact that it let every group member participate—including the ageless Yukari Yakumo and a literal sentient planet—was one thing.
But those Activity World names… what the hell were those supposed to be?
"xxx Sutra"? "Night xxx"?
I didn't go to school long enough for this. What are these? No idea. They sure sound impressive, though.
The wall of x's made guessing impossible.
At least "One-Punch x Man" was somewhat legible.
That had to be One-Punch Man, right?
RawrSoFierce: "[Image] [Image] [Image]… Here's the Group Event details. A Children's Day event… I can't even begin to roast this hard enough."
Kaguya-sama: "Eh? I saw it too. So that's what a Group Event is? Free Dimensional Transfer—666, impressive!"
Kaguya-sama: "No Points required to transfer dimensions? In that case, it's not like I can't go!"
Crazy Diamond: "The most important part is… food, drinks, entertainment—ALL FREE!"
The Little Wandering Planet: "…Um, can I go?"
RawrSoFierce: "…That's… hmm. How about… we give it a tiny little try?"
Kaguya-sama: "Pat pat, Little Planet. *head pats*"
Crazy Diamond: "Pat pat, Little Planet. *head pats*"
Green Grasslands Wolf King: "Pat pat, Little Planet. *head pats*"
We, Ying Zheng: "Pat pat, Little Planet. *head pats*"
The Little Wandering Planet: "*bursts into tears* The ocean's water—those are my tears~"
☆☆☆
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