Chapter 22: Treatment Includes Wear and Tear

Before Takumi has truly grown up, he absolutely won't go to those dangerous worlds. Among all the people in the group, the only one who poses any danger to Takumi is Honkai: Star Rail. So for now, as long as he avoids Himeko's side, everything should be fine. As for the other members' worlds? He'll just leave them as they are. In Teyvat, with Takumi's current strength, he claims none of the Seven Archons could beat him. Even if Phanes showed up, Takumi could just hammer him down. He could turn all of Teyvat upside down if he wanted. As for akeno world, Takumi isn't afraid at all. Even if those evil gods from EXE arrived, it would be the same—Takumi says he can take them on. A bunch of mechanical evil gods? How about trying the power of the Erosion Herrscher? Takumi considers himself a perfect counter to them. As for local transcenders and such, he can easily handle them too. No big deal. So, in this group, Takumi stands at the very top. As long as he doesn't go to Honkai: Star Rail, everything will be fine. Takumi accepted all the information Himeko provided. The flood of information surged into Takumi's mind. Among the massive amounts of technology data from Herta, there was even a method for building star-destroyers. Sorting through all the knowledge in his mind, Takumi's eyes immediately lit up. However, this time, Takumi didn't really become stronger. Maybe it was because he was alone, so his growth was somehow limited? After all, his power is tied to the advancement of civilization. Even though he'd acquired all this technology, there was nowhere to use it. It could only exist in his mind. In other words, if Takumi wants to keep improving his strength, he needs to develop this world. Realizing this, Takumi scratched his head. "What a hassle... I really do need more people!" He let out a sigh. As expected, he'd have to pull people from other worlds. A few hundred wouldn't be enough. He'd need even more to properly develop a civilization. Shaking his head, Takumi decided not to think too much about it for now. He'd handle it when he acquired knowledge from other systems. With this in mind, Takumi continued to chat in the group. Time passed as he idled in the group, and before he knew it, it was past midnight. Like always, Takumi clicked to check in within the group. Not just Takumi, but everyone else checked in on time as well. \\[Group Member 'Takumi' has checked in successfully.] \\[Congratulations to member 'Takumi' for receiving: 66 points.] \\[Group Member 'Fujiwara Chika' has checked in successfully.] \\[Congratulations to group member 'Fujiwara Chika' for receiving: 30 points.] ... One by one, everyone finished checking in. Everyone received points. Fujiwara Chika: \\[Time to sleep, gotta protect my precious life!!] \\[( ̄o ̄).zZ] Sagiri: \\[Goodnight!] Bronya: \\[Goodnight!] Akeno: \\[Goodnight\\~!] After checking in, Fujiwara Chika went straight to bed. The others did too—after all, Fujiwara Chika still had to go to school tomorrow. Checking in on time every day was already quite impressive. However, aside from Takumi, nobody else really received any special items. If you got an item, unless it was some powerful ability, it was just bad luck. The night passed without incident. The next morning, as Takumi got up, people in the group were discussing the items in the shop. Someone even tagged Takumi. Fujiwara Chika: \\[@Takumi, have you ever bought the body enhancement item? I want to buy it now, but I don't have enough points. Do you know what it does?] Seeing Fujiwara Chika's message, Takumi paused for a moment. She wants to buy it? Takumi: \\[You have that many points?] Saving up again, huh? These people all joined the group quite early, so they accumulated quite a few points from the daily check-ins. Later, after Takumi put up a bunch of tech for sale, they finally spent some, but otherwise, they'd still be hoarding. Fujiwara Chika: \\[Hehe! Of course I have to save some points for the stuff that comes out later. Quickly, tell me, you must've bought it, right?] Fujiwara Chika was certain Takumi must have bought it, since only he had so many points. So she wanted to know what effects it had. Takumi didn't hide anything. Takumi: \\[It basically doubles your strength. The stronger you are, the more the boost. It's a benefit for newcomers.] He didn't keep it a secret. The enhancement was actually quite good. The only issue was that the next upgrade cost \\*10, which was a pain—completely unaffordable. Seeing Takumi's message, everyone was shocked. Double your strength? That's amazing! Even Zhongli was tempted at that point. Takumi continued: \\[As for the healing item, I guess it can heal any injury? @Zhongli, old man, you can buy one and try it. Maybe it'll fix your erosion problem.] If it costs so many points, it has to be powerful. Maybe it could even solve erosion. Zhongli was interested. Maybe it really could help. Zhongli: \\[@Takumi, lend me a thousand points.] ... What the...! Seeing Zhongli's message, Takumi was speechless. Wow, asking to borrow points just like that? Only you would be so bold. Takumi glanced at his own points. He had just over two thousand. After thinking for a moment, he decided not to refuse and lent Zhongli a thousand points. He was also curious if this healing ability could really repair erosion, or if it could heal any injury at all. If so, this ability would be incredibly powerful. Letting Zhongli test it was a good idea—after all, Zhongli had erosion. Maybe this would really show results. With that in mind, Takumi lent Zhongli a thousand points. After receiving them, Zhongli immediately bought the healing ability. If this healing really helped with erosion, he'd definitely have to save up more points in the future. He'd actually saved up quite a few from daily check-ins, but ever since Takumi joined the group and started posting all sorts of tech, he kept spending them, so he didn't have much left. That's why he had to borrow some from Takumi. After receiving the points from Takumi, Zhongli didn't hesitate at all and bought the healing ability. As soon as he did, he felt a strange energy enter his body, coming from who-knows-where, flowing into him. In that moment, Zhongli felt his whole body become warm and comfortable. He was surprised—how long had it been since he'd felt this way? At that moment, Zhongli felt his body was in the best shape it had been in ages. He even recalled some things he'd forgotten. The erosion seemed to have been repaired to some extent. Repairing the erosion also meant his strength had recovered by about ten percent.