"If I wanted to go work as a handyman right now, would that not be as easy as breathing?"
Ethan muttered with a crooked smile on his face.
"H, hey alien buddy!!"
At that moment, a poacher lying on the deck weakly called out to Ethan.
"Hm? Have you not been beaten enough yet? Or are you saying... you want me to let you all go, to avoid being held accountable by the law?"
Ethan turned to look at the poacher and warned him.
"No..." the poacher said weakly. "The ship has been moving forward the whole time. Can you let us go steer it and bring it to shore? If no one drives the ship, it might crash into something!"
"Shut it, I will handle it!"
Ethan snapped back, then twisted the symbol on his chest and switched to a different alien!
A small black and white alien appeared with a flash of light!
His eyes were wicked, and his lips were shaped like a "V", as if he was always holding a death grin.
A smiling alien has better luck.
Click!
Ethan split into several Error Dittos. Each one had a clear job and took control of the large ship in an orderly manner, without feeling the slightest bit of discomfort.
The ship quickly came to shore. On the shore, a massive number of tourists had been frantically calling for help, so the police had arrived early.
They escorted the large number of poachers away.
As for the ship, Ethan's figure was already nowhere to be seen, which also gave the police a sense of relief.
With Captain Shaw's boat docking at the shore, Ethan and Ben each stood up and gave each other a high five, both grinning.
"That was great. Our teamwork this time was absolutely flawless." Ben laughed cheerfully, then let out a regretful sigh. "Too bad I could not beat a strong opponent like that lake monster."
Ethan nodded thoughtfully. "A strong opponent huh..."
"Ethan, when did you learn to pilot a ship? And so well at that."
Max looked toward Ethan curiously and asked.
"It is a power this watch gave me."
Ethan raised his wrist showing the Error Watch and said with a completely straight face.
"Come on, my watch is such a useless little thing. It teaches me nothing at all!"
"Maybe it is just that a certain blockhead does not know how to use their own watch. Nothing more."
Ben and Gwen, as always, started bickering back and forth with each other.
It was not until Captain Shaw finally woke up that the lake had long since returned to calm, and everyone could continue with the fishing plan!
Of course, Captain Shaw now had one more thing puzzling him. How exactly had he been scared unconscious??
...
That night the stars were shining brightly. Ethan crept quietly out of the old RV and came to the shore.
He breathed in a deep breath of cold air and felt suddenly clear-headed. "We are leaving tomorrow. Might as well take this chance and challenge the lake monster! Like Ben said, she definitely counts as a strong opponent!"
If Ethan simply ran through the story and fought the villains, his template progress would grow slower and slower.
So he planned to take more initiative and push his template progress forward faster!
"Lake monster, where are you?"
Ethan gazed out over the lake surface, getting ready to transform and look for the lake monster.
Bang!!
Green light suddenly burst out and a slim figure moved quickly to Ethan's side!
"XLR8! Ben, why did you transform?"
Ethan looked at Ben in surprise and asked.
"Ethan!" The mask on Ben's face dropped back, and his voice was firm. "I got beaten up pretty badly today. I want to challenge the lake monster one more time!"
"Are you sure XLR8 is the right pick?"
Ethan stared at Ben in disbelief.
"Come on, I believe in XLR8! Ethan, you do not think I am a blockhead who does not know how to use his own aliens, the same as Gwen does, right?" Ben smiled with confidence.
Eight minutes later.
"Ethan!!"
Ben was sprinting across the lake surface, with the Krakken bearing down furiously behind him. "Transform time is almost up, save me!"
"Geez, to fight a lake monster you obviously need to use this!"
Ethan jumped hard toward the lake surface, and the instant his body hit the water, red light flashed!!
A muscular powerhouse several meters tall and blood-red all over burst out from the water surface!
His mouth was full of sharp fangs, and his four eyes looked thoroughly sinister. Looking closely... every single one of his eyes had a double pupil!
And his muscles were even more built than Four Arms, entirely thanks to Ethan's powerful physique.
"Four Arms, I am here!"
Ben jumped up behind Ethan in one move, heart pounding. "I transformed into XLR8 thinking the lake monster would not be able to hit me... but I had no idea I could not hit her either. So frustrating!"
"Leave this to me. I have been wanting to challenge the lake monster for a while."
Ethan planted his feet firmly, all four arms spreading out nimbly, ready to face the furiously charging Krakken!
Bang!!
The Krakken slammed hard into Ethan's body. Ethan swayed slightly, but actually held his ground and stopped the Krakken's full-force charge!
His strength was above the lake monster's!
The Krakken was instantly furious and started going berserk, determined to have it out with Ethan.
"Just a straight power contest is no fun!"
Ethan grinned. Memories of close-quarters combat techniques surfaced in his mind, locking precisely onto wrestling!
Right after, his muscles responded to the memory in his brain. Like a wrestling expert, he grabbed and locked onto the Krakken's body!
Bang!!
With one burst of force from Ethan, he hurled the Krakken straight up into the air!!
The Krakken looked completely dazed and stared at Ethan in confusion.
They had agreed to a test of strength.
Why had he gone and pulled out the advanced techniques??
"Never seen wrestling before, have you! Lake monster!"
Ethan excitedly thrust out all four arms and put his practiced wrestling techniques to work, throwing the Krakken around like a toy!
Human combat techniques paired with his monstrous strength.
It made him an absolute close-range beast!
The Krakken was thrown airborne the entire time, as if it had evolved into a flying creature!
This style of fighting neither caused her real harm, yet made her directly feel the gap between herself and Ethan!
Low on damage, extremely high on humiliation.
"Um... is not the whole point of Four Arms just to throw a fist and punch the enemy, or pick them up and toss them away? That is it, right?"
Ben looked at the scene awkwardly and scratched his face. "You can even play it like this. I learned something today."
Bang!!
With Ethan's eighteenth burst of force, throwing the Krakken into the air.
He hurriedly took a step back and moved away to a short distance.
The Krakken fell back into the water, looking miserable as she vomited violently into the lake. She had literally been tossed around until she threw up!!
"Ethan, you are just too strong... you even made the lake monster throw up."
Ben had long since reverted back to normal and looked at Ethan with admiration, praising him.
[Ding, Host has defeated the Krakken and successfully made her throw up. Progress +1!]
[Template Progress: 9/100. Error Bullfrag Unlocked!]
Ethan listened to the system's voice and felt no excitement at all.
"What do you mean I made the lake monster throw up? What are you two on about..."
He grumbled away, then patted the Krakken's back a little sheepishly to help her feel better, before leaving the place with Ben.
At this point, the dispute between the alien and the lake monster was brought to a close.
...
That night, Captain Shaw was woken up by the noise outside and angrily grabbed his flashlight and headed out. "This is driving me crazy. First I passed out for no reason during the day, now someone is making noise at night! Who is it? What are you doing out here at this hour!"
As he stepped outside, the flashlight landed on a massive figure.
"Hello there, Captain Shaw."
Ethan revealed a smile, a mouth full of fangs showing.
"A ghost!!"
Captain Shaw dropped straight to the ground and went out cold.