Sumatra's Greatest Fan-Chapter 90: Curling Up, The Lips Do

Seeing Runthral stand rigidly before a bowing Inin who was happy to make Torq’s life hell for the slightest inconvenience done to their Deity, Torq quickly thought of a plan, ’These rigid bastards will screw up everything If I don’t do something here.’

He casually twirled his hands around Runthral’s and announced with a sheepish tone, "Brother visited me because he was concerned about my well being."

"Despite everything, he’s a Deity." Torq spoke aloud, ensuring everyone Cooter Clansmen in the cabin room could hear him, "As a Deity, it’s only natural he cares about the well being of every Cooter Clansmen,"

"Even someone as detested by me."

Inin’s eyes lit up at his words, "Yes, yes, as expected of our Deity."

He slammed his forehead on the floor, "This humble one’s horizons have been broadened."

"Uh..." Runthral directed a gaze towards Torq, as if conveying what the fuck the other party was talking about now.

But, Torq continued to speak after he pointed out to his arm, where a deep palm print was still visible, "Look, he thought I was slacking and admonished me."

’When did I...?’ Runthral was stunned when Torq revealed the palm print, ’I never grabbed him by the arm to leave such a print.’

"Make me work more, harder, so that I sweat out all the moisture in my body." Torq spread his arms wide and dramatically curled them towards Runthral, "Since I am detested just for existing, he asked me to keep proving my worth by doing at least two people’s work."

"Splendidly said, my Deity!" Inin got up and clapped with vigour, followed by all the other Cooter Clansmen in the cabin room. He then grabbed and raised Torq’s arm high up, "Did everyone hear it?"

"Put Boiboi through the wringer!" He announced, "Let him prove the worth of his existence to us, every single day!"

"We heed the Deity’s orders!"

"We heed the Deity’s plan!"

The Cooter Clansmen chanted amidst Runthral’s stunned expression. He creaked his face to the side and eyed Torq, for the first time feeling a sense of unfounded fear, ’He’s neither used my power nor that blasted trump card of his. Then, what is this?’

’Why do I feel more intimidated by him than before?’ As he thought, Torq slipped out of Inin’s grasp and crouched low to grab Runthral’s arm.

"Now, now, let’s not waste our Deity’s precious time." Torq said while behaving like a hunched man, bowing so low his line of sight was only at Runthral’s waist, "Let us all cheer our Deity’s walk out of this cabin."

"Walk, our Deity!"

"Walk, Walk, Walk!" Under the energetic cheers of the Cooter Clansmen, Runthral was escorted to the cabin’s exit by Torq. As he turned around, all twenty Cooter Clansmen in the cabin prostrated on the floor, fully covering the space close to the exit.

"It was our honour to greet you." Torq shouted and slammed his forehead on the floor.

"Our lives have meaning now that we have prostrated on the same path our Deity has walked upon." Inin shouted next.

’Damn, this guy is something else.’ Torq thought in praise upon hearing Inin’s words, ’He would have thrived as a keyboard warrior.’

"What the fuck just happened?" Runthral frowned in confusion upon seeing the cabin door close shut behind him. He had barged in angry, ready to kill Boiboi. And now, he was left with nothing but confusion and a deal.

Scratching his head, Runthral walked away, intending to return to the Battleship he was posted upon.

...

It was nighttime. And sleeping in a cramped berth enclosure on the wall was Torq. The cabin walls had been segmented into four bunk beds in total, spanning from the ground to the ceiling. Each enclosure was a cuboidal space enough for a person to sleep within, while maintaining privacy thanks to the curtains.

A couple rails had also been installed along the length of the berths, ensuring they wouldn’t fall out during the Battleship’s wobble.

His berth was the one attached to the ceiling. And having closed the curtain, Torq felt his clothes, ’Even though the texture feels like the fabric used by the others, to think this is a living being, and a Gold Grade existence at that.’

It was his Narlakk Pet serving as his clothes. Currently, his Primary Nature was engaged with his Empyrean Snapper Pet. So, he couldn’t actively control his Narlakk Pet. It was relying on the commands he left it last, which was to function as his clothes and only defend him from harm upon his request.

Thankfully, it hadn’t taken action against Runthral. Otherwise, the situation would have turned messy. Of course, if it seemed like Boiboi was about to die, it would have protected him.

Condensing a droplet of water, Torq made it dance in the air before him. Its path of movement was wobbly at the start, but as the minutes trickled by, it grew more and more steady.

Torq recalled the training session with Eureur Pet, ’That will indeed come in handy. Using those memories as a reference, I’ll quickly bring myself up to speed with Mystic Mist Art.’

The droplet of water danced around, starting with a circle to loop around nonstop. The circle elongated into an oval, before becoming the shape of ’8’. Little by little, he was increasing the complexity of the patterns.

’This seems easy.’ Torq grinned, for at the moment, his brain was merely getting in sync with the body. Torq had already gone through enough training that everything related to Mystic Mist Art had become muscle memory.

So, now that he was retracing those steps based on his memory, the body’s muscle memory got activated, allowing the body and mind to sync with each other. ’Soon, my skill level will reach the same height as the original.’

An hour later, the droplet of water had become a narrow stream of mist. Another hour later, the stream of mist had become a block of ice. When it was the time for his shift, Torq was dispersing the block of ice before quickly solidifying it into a newer shape.

When the block of ice is dispersed, its shape expands. Taking advantage of this, he applied pressure to respective locations to fix a container using psychokinesis. And within this container, the mist spread to fully occupy, at which point he solidified it into a new block of ice.

This way, he was not only able to promptly change the ice shape, but could even vary its density and composition. ’The more I play around with it, the better my skill level improves.’

’Man, this is amazing!’ He laughed in excitement, ’I have plenty of things to try out.’

’Everything in regards to logic and control is exactly as I had hoped.’ He couldn’t stop his body from trembling out of sheer hype, ’I can achieve anything I wish to have here!’

"I truly am in Sumatra, huh?" His lips curled up so much, they almost reached his ears. It was pretty frightening to see, for he had done so without pulling on the edges or by tearing the lip muscles.

It was purely driven up from hype.