"Ouch, ouch... How do I control these cavitation bubbles so they don't implode and send shockwaves straight into me?" Leyvi muttered, inspecting the fresh swellings and bruises all over his body.
"I'm almost entirely blue... I need to figure out how to control the bubbles next." Leyvi muttered, wincing as he touched one of his swollen bruises. "Hmm... The bubbles tend to implode toward the side nearest a surface—which, most of the time, is me."
He squinted thoughtfully at the water. "If I can form bigger cavitation bubbles and control them to implode simultaneously in the same direction... holy! The damage could be devastating! Hahaha! Alright, that'll be the plan for now!"
Just then, something in the distance caught his eye.
"Hmm?"
A familiar figure approached. It was Dastan, with Tantan perched on his shoulder, kicking up sand behind him as he rode the Crown Rider. He looked quite exhausted.
This guy… did he not rest at all while picking coconuts? Tch tch. So he only comes back now because he's tired? If he weren't exhausted, would he have kept going? Leyvi shook his head.
"Oi, Leyvi! This prince ran out of space! Lend this prince your space ring so I can store more coconuts!" Dastan shouted as soon as he spotted him.
Leyvi nearly stumbled. What do you mean you ran out of space? How many coconuts did you abduct along the way!?
"Oi, clown prince! That's enough. How many more do you even want?" Leyvi said, exasperated.
Dastan pulled up beside him and stopped. "This prince already said all of them. Of course this prince is going to fulfill his promise to Tantan. Right, Tantan?"
Tantan nodded proudly, her fluffy tail rubbing against Dastan's neck with affection.
Leyvi was speechless. This guy has lost it. Tantan is definitely the tamer here, not the other way around.
"Also, why are you blue? Are you poisoned or something? A demonic beast stung you while swimming?" Dastan asked, eyeing Leyvi's bruised body with a raised brow.
"No, it's from my training."
"Training? What kind of training turns people blue? Forget it. This prince doesn't care. Let me borrow your space ring. The coconuts are waiting." Dastan stretched out his hand impatiently.
"Stop, stop. Enough coconuts for now. If you want more, you can plant the trees yourself in your Royal Garden or something when we return," Leyvi said flatly.
"What do you mean stop? This prince had promised Tantan; breaking it will stain my royal dignity. Right, Tantan?" Dastan turned to the squirrel.
Tantan nodded again, smugly glaring at Leyvi as if to say, "You heard him."
Leyvi sighed, rubbing his temple. Maybe this clown prince needs a dose of spiritual pressure again… including this squirrel.
Smiling mischievously, Leyvi released his spiritual pressure, directing it at Dastan to give him a scare, but to his surprise, Dastan was no longer there.
Oho? This guy actually learned something from past experience, Leyvi thought, slightly amused.
"Daa hahaha! Leyvi, your spiritual pressure can't reach me anymore—even by surprise! You could only bully me previously because this prince was too lazy to learn any skills or techniques. But not anymore!" Dastan declared from behind him, puffing up with pride. "This prince has mastered the Royal Family movement technique to full mastery!"
He threw his arms wide with dramatic flair. "When a super genius like me puts in a little effort, everything can be learned easily! This is what it means to be the crown prince!"
"Is that so?" Leyvi smiled. "Then Crown Prince Dastan, we'll do some training to see if you live up to that title. Dodge my Invisible Meteor Shower attacks."
"Daa hahaha! Bring it on! None will reach this prince!"
Without wasting a moment, Leyvi unleashed a flurry of pinpoint spiritual pressure strikes—dozens of spots on the beach were hammered in rapid succession, each impact leaving behind a clean, circular dent in the sand. But Dastan danced through them all effortlessly, leaving shimmering afterimages as he moved.
Leyvi had honed this technique for fast, targeted bursts—quick-draw style attacks rather than maintaining a continuous stream of pressure. It was more deceptive, more sudden. Unlike constant pressure, which flattened everything nearby and gave away too many visual cues, this version gave the opponent less time to react. That's why he called it Invisible Meteor Shower.
"Not fast enough, Leyvi! This prince can dodge them easily. Look—Tantan is still sleeping peacefully on my shoulder." Dastan kept bragging, twisting and flashing through the pressure strikes like a performer on stage.
Hundreds of invisible meteors later, all of which Dastan skillfully dodged, Leyvi finally paused, arms folding as he took a breath.
Hmm... This crown prince is really skilled at using his movement technique, huh. Not only that, but he could tell where my attack was coming from easily and evade it swiftly and with perfect timing. Calling himself a genius isn't an understatement.
Leyvi couldn't help but feel a flicker of genuine admiration. A little over a year ago, Dastan could barely run without tripping over his own feet. But now? Now, he moved with grace and confidence, evading even Leyvi's surprise barrages. Tch. Even I feel a bit envious seeing him move so freely.
"Hahaha! Don't be arrogant too soon! Are you ready for my next tactic?" Leyvi laughed.
"Bring it on! This prince can deal with anything. Daa hahaha!"
Leyvi smirked mischievously. His posture dipped low, and in the next instant, he lunged forward in a sudden burst of speed, closing the distance between them almost instantly.
The crown prince's eyes tracked the movement. He dodged to the side with ease, already confident in his evasive abilities. But the moment Leyvi's feet hit the ground, he unleashed his true move—his spiritual pressure burst outward in every direction instead of concentrating on a single point.
Dastan dodged, but instantly he realized something was different from normal, and he wanted to react to it, but it was too late. The spiritual force blanketed the area and pressed down from all sides. Caught completely off guard, both Dastan and Tantan were slammed into the sand, face-first.
"Urgh—!"
For a few moments, they thrashed around, trying to lift themselves up from the soft, suffocating grip of the beach. But it was only after Leyvi released the pressure that they finally managed to move again, spitting and coughing up mouthfuls of sand.
"Hahaha! I win!" Leyvi declared, crossing his arms triumphantly. "As the winner, you both need to listen to me. Stop with the coconuts. Do it some other time. We need to cross the lake quickly. I'm pretty sure there are coconuts on the island too."
"Ptui, ptui! Dammit Leyvi! So many sands got into this prince's mouth. You are trampling on our royal dignity!" Dastan barked in protest, still coughing.
Tantan, her cheeks puffed out and fur streaked with sand, scowled while spitting out grit. She looked up at Leyvi with an annoyed expression, clearly just as salty about it.
"How come you couldn't dodge that one?" Leyvi asked curiously, ignoring the arrogant talk. He was already used to it by now.
"Hmph, no comment." Dastan stood up and used Qi vibrations to shake off all the sand clinging to his body.
"Cheh, what are you being so secretive about?" Leyvi said, raising a brow.
Dastan had no intention of admitting the truth. He wasn't about to tell Leyvi that he'd picked up on a distinct pattern in his attacks—specifically, a subtle movement of the brow and eyebrows that Leyvi made just before launching his spiritual pressure. That, combined with his familiarity with the usual radius Leyvi favored, allowed him to dodge easily just by reading those tiny cues.
But this time, Leyvi had changed his tactic. Dastan, relying on old assumptions, had moved just outside what he thought was the danger zone and failed spectacularly.
Still brushing the last grains of sand off, Dastan looked down at the ground nearby.
This guy... Just how wide can he spread his spiritual pressure all around him? He stretched it that far and still had enough force to pin me down? Unbelievable.
After all, the wider the area covered with spiritual pressure, the more diluted the force should be. But Leyvi's still hit like a hammer.
"Huh?" Dastan suddenly noticed something. "Uhh... Leyvi, look at that." He pointed ahead.
"What?" Leyvi turned, and his expression froze.
A short distance away, one of the boulders that had been sitting innocently among the others was now deflated… and distinctly human-shaped. Turns out, Leyvi's wide-range spiritual pressure had reached Victor in disguise as well, flattening him onto his back inside his rock camouflage.
Leyvi scratched his head awkwardly. "Uhh... Sorry, Brother Victor. It was an accident. I… uhh… forgot you were there..."
Inside the flattened boulder, Victor's mouth and brow twitched in unison.
I regret following these noisy men. I should've just continued traveling alone.
...
The following day, the three men and a squirrel gathered at the lakeside.
"So, how do you want to cross the lake?" the crown prince asked, arms crossed.
Leyvi smiled confidently. "Easy. We'll make a big raft using the coconut tree trunks and cross it. I'll swim and pull the raft. You guys might not know this, but I'm actually a great swimmer."
Victor and Dastan stared at him, dumbfounded. That's your plan? You want to swim all the way there… while towing us?