Playing Waterbending (Avatar: Last Aibender SI)

At the forest that was filled with dangerous and large animals and insects.

The first time I was here, I had to rely on praying, luck, and trees to survive. But this time, I was better prepared.

I couldn't afford to play it safe, as my self-esteem was on the line. I needed to grind to preserve my male pride.

I entered the forest, not walking comfortably. My heart thundered in my ears, and I could practically feel water dripping from the sweat on my skin. There was a simple reason for my fear: that giant centipede. It was so intimidating that I feared seeing it in my nightmares.

Around my shoulders were two tentacles, ready for any emergencies.

Shaking my head, I spotted a stray wolf with an exceptionally long neck. It was much larger and more muscular than the cub I had killed that day.

"Grrrr!!!!" it howled at me, taking a defensive stance.

It seemed to be one of the survivors from the wolf pack I had attacked a few days ago. The only difference this time was that I wasn't perched on top of a tree.

Did you know some animals can hold a grudge for a long time? Take camels, for example. You could hit one today, and twenty years later, you might meet it again. It would remember you and turn into a John Wick out of nowhere. It would wait until you were alone or asleep, then kill you when no one was watching. Some animals were absurdly smart and could hold grudges—they were just that petty.

"Come here, little puppy." I pointed at it, and a spear appeared in my hand.

The wolf lunged at me, its long neck coming from an unexpected angle, trying to bite me.

One tentacle pushed against the ground, shoving me backward, while the other morphed into a sharp ice spike that pierced through the wolf's eye. As I landed on my feet, I sent another tentacle with a wave of my arm, turning it into a sharp spear that pierced through the wolf's neck.

[Long-Necked Wolf has been defeated]

[Waterbending +200 exp]

[+1680 accumulated experience]

I caught my breath, calming down.

Compared to last time, I had improved a lot. The previous time, I had to rely on a high-level freezing skill to deal with it, and I had nearly lost to a young wolf. Now, I could face a beast on equal footing without using much water.

'Reminds me of Katara in the canon. She just used drinking water. Man.' I thought to myself. 'That's totally unfair. If I could, I'd learn to use water from my surroundings.'

'But the thing about waterbending is that the purer the water, the easier it is to bend. If you add some mud, it becomes moderately difficult. If it's mixed with other substances, forget it. It would be more like metalbending. If it were easy to bend anything with water in it, freezing humans would be done with a flick, and waterbenders would have been the ones to conquer the world by now.'

I rubbed the back of my head and poured a thin layer of water around the dead wolf's body, then froze it.

You might wonder why I froze it. Last time, there were many dead animals on the ground, and it attracted a large insect.

I didn't know why, but I thought of dead animals in general. When they die, they're usually surrounded by bugs and worms within 24 hours. So, freezing them was a security measure I came up with while walking on the road. You know, when you walk for 8 hours each day, you think about a lot of things.

"Okay. Level 9 is definitely on a whole different level compared to level 8. I wonder what it'll feel like when I hit level 10." I murmured. The answer was obvious: straight.

A few more wolves approached after their kin let out their last howl.

I looked at them and smiled. I wasn't the same man who would cling to a tree and shoot from afar anymore.

I quickly jumped to the nearest tree and climbed it with my tentacles.

Just because I was stronger didn't mean I wouldn't do the smarter thing, which was to take the route with the lowest risk and highest reward.

The wolves surrounded me and jumped high, trying to bite me. Those who jumped were met with rain pouring down on them, created by my tentacles, before I froze it onto them.

Seriously, why would I use advanced, exhausting waterbending techniques to deal with small fries?

[Killing Long-Necked Wolf...]

[Killing Long-Necked Wolf...]

[Killing Long-Necked Wolf...]

[Killing Long-Necked Wolf...]

[Waterbending +300 exp]

[Waterbending +300 exp] ...

[Freeze +++]

I remembered why one should use advanced waterbending techniques—it was to gain more raw experience in their skill.

There was around 16,800 accumulated experience gained.

I jumped off the tree, thinking about freezing the dead bodies by covering them in water.

But then, an idea hit me.

Sure, I may not be able to bend blood now, but shouldn't I be able to bend it when it's outside the body?

I grabbed a knife from my storage and made a cut in the neck of a freshly dead wolf. A sensation of water weight tickled the back of my head. I moved my hand, and a bit of blood floated.

'Surely, the response time is slower compared to pure water, and it feels heavier. On the other hand, it's possible to use it outside the body.' I thought to myself. 'Maybe bloodbending is just heavy lifting with a little amount of water.'

If I tried to lift a heavy human using a certain amount of water, I wouldn't be able to do it because the weight matters.

Bloodbending was the same as lifting a human-sized rock by making the water around it float, which is incredibly difficult to do. And if it were easy, waterbenders would have an advantage over every other bender. It's just really heavy lifting.

'I get the key now. I need to do heavy weight training with waterbending or level up Chi Bending to unlock bloodbending.' I thought to myself. 'In that case, I can think of two things. First, chi-bending. The higher the level, the more water I can bend, and the faster and stronger the water responds to my bending. Second, I can go the bodybuilder route—lifting objects with water and increasing the weight while keeping the amount of water the same each time.'

'For now, let me try this.'

I put my hand on the cut and tried to sense the water, using my visualization to freeze it.

The body became stiff.

[Discovering an advanced skill under the Tree Skill: Waterbending]

[Waterbending +7000 exp]

[Sub-Skill: Freezing Palm]

[As long as there is a cut, you can freeze people by touching them.]

[Waterbending level too low. May need extra time and direct physical contact to activate the skill.]

I cupped my chin, thinking, 'Nice.'

I moved to another body, put my hand on it, and tried to use the freezing skill without making a cut.

To say that I was disappointed would be an understatement. It took me 10 seconds to freeze it, and even then, I felt like I had wasted energy.

[Waterbending +500 exp]

[Freeze +100 exp]

"Shit," I cursed, falling onto my butt. Using a higher-level skill, according to the system, required more energy.

On the other hand, I realized something else. Although bloodbending was like intense weightlifting for now, freezing humans wasn't impossible. In fact, with a few more levels, it could be done from a distance.

Anyway, I was pretty tired. I turned my head and climbed the nearest tree for observation purposes. I looked toward the direction of the sun, and it was about to set. It would be time for the strongest species in the forest to appear. 

'Wow. Time passes quickly,' I thought.

Now, I had a problem on my hands: Where the hell would I put my shelter?