He didn't fully follow Tom's rules.

  After sailing with Tom to a spot in the ocean, setting up the fishing nets, and patiently waiting for the whole morning, with the fishing rods in pce.

  Looking at the still-empty fish bucket, Viktor stood up. Tom seemed to understand what he was pnning, sighed, and tried to warn him.

  "The seawater is dirty. It could worsen any wounds."

  Viktor responded by tearing off the bandage on his body, pointing to the faint pink scar on his chest.

  "Thanks for your concern, Tom, but watch me dive down and catch some big fish for you."

  Then, with a light push from the tip of his toes, Viktor's body slowly lifted off from Tom's small fishing boat, but he didn't dare push too hard.

  Even though he'd had a few rexing days, Viktor was already used to controlling his new strength that came with his enhanced abilities in combat.

  Now, with his strength more than doubled, if he wasn't careful, a single kick could easily crush Tom's fragile boat.

  After flying a few meters above the sea, Viktor stretched his arms out, took a deep breath of the fishy sea air, and dove into the deep blue sea with a powerful dive.

  When the icy cold seawater enveloped him, Viktor actually felt a refreshing sensation. Viltrumite's physiology allowed him to not worry about water pressure or ck of oxygen.

  The darkness of the deep sea was no different from daylight for him, and his vision was clear, and the scales of the swimming fish sparkled in the dim light.

  Their movements were so clear that they seemed to slow down several times.

  'I remember that swimming too fast in the deep sea would cause the waves to push away creatures that rely on the currents to move. Moreover, the pressure difference would crush all the fish around you at supersonic speeds.'

  'To get fresh food from the ocean floor, I have to suppress my strength and speed to a retive level.'

  He thought to himself, his body sinking slightly as he slowly swam toward a group of mackerel swimming together.

  He deliberately slowed down, and just as his fingertips were about to touch the tail fin of the fish, the fish darted away, sharply flicking its tail and shooting off.

  The entire group of fish scattered instantly, leaving behind only a trail of bubbles rising in the water.

  He paused for a moment, then furrowed his brow.

  'I had deliberately made my movements extremely light, even consciously suppressing my own breath. '

  'How could I have been detected?'

  Viktor wasn't willing to give up. Even though he had never caught fish on Earth before, he did well enough to survive and perform excellently on Viltrum.

  These low-level creatures from Earth shouldn't be so difficult.

  After scanning around for a while, Viktor fixed his gaze on a grouper swimming alone. This fish was big and bulky, moving slowly and looking clumsy.

  He slowed his heartbeat this time, approaching the fish like a hidden predator. When he was less than a meter away from the grouper, he suddenly reached out, his fingertips precisely locking onto the fish's body.

  But just as his fingers were about to touch the scales, the grouper suddenly surged, twisting its body with surprising speed, slipping through his fingers, and creating a spsh of mud that blurred his vision.

  "Damn it."

  He muttered under his breath as he waved the mud away from his face.

  After failing twice in a row, Viktor started to wonder if he still wasn't quite used to controlling his strength.

  After the massive boost in his strength following his recovery from the severe injuries, Viktor's power had doubled, and he hadn't fully adapted to this change yet.

  He hadn't noticed it when consciously suppressing his strength at the house, but perhaps because he was so rexed in the sea at that moment, he wasn't paying enough attention.

  'Still… how are fish this slippery and quick??'

  He closed his eyes, calming himself down, and focused on his target again. It was a medium-sized yellow croaker, swimming smoothly and seemingly unaware of any danger.

  He was extra careful this time, suppressing his strength as low as possible. He gently closed his fingers around the fish's body. The sensation was cold and slippery. He was just about to tighten his grip a tiny bit to hold it...

  "Slurp!"

  The fish flicked its tail hard, covered in slimy goo, leaving its hand slippery and wet.

  After failing three times in a row, Viktor still had plenty of patience, but his heart's pumping began to unconsciously increase in strength.

  A bit of heat spread in his chest.

  In the training camp on Viltrum, Viktor never failed with such "easy targets."

  'Is this ego? Eh.'

  No longer suppressing his speed and strength, his body shot forward like an arrow released from a bow, heading straight toward a slightly rger sea bass.

  The sea bass seemed to sense the imminent danger and sped up in a panic, but its speed still appeared ughably slow in Viktor's eyes.

  Just as he was about to catch up, Viktor suddenly reached out to grab it.

  This time, as his fingertips touched the fish's body, Viktor heard a crisp "crack" as the sea bass's spine was snapped, and its body instantly went limp.

  The blood leaked out between his fingers and spread like red smoke in the water.

  Looking at the lifeless fish in his hand, Viktor stared at it for a moment before tossing it aside. He looked further into the deep, dark ocean and saw a huge shadow moving slowly—a giant tuna.

  The tuna was over a meter long, weighing at least eighty pounds, and moved steadily and powerfully through the water.

  Viktor's body suddenly sank, and like a cannonball, he charged toward the tuna with incredible speed. He didn't even intend to reach out to grab it this time. He only pnned to use his body to force the tuna to stop.

  "Thud"

  He smmed into the tuna's body with full force, and the immense impact instantly shattered the fish.

  He could even clearly feel the sensation of bones cracking. The next second, the tuna's blood erupted like a fountain, quickly creating a thick cloud of blood fog around him, turning his vision dark red.

  Viktor floated right in the middle of the blood fog, looking down at his hands, and suddenly gave a helpless smile. These hands could tear through the outer shell of a spaceship traveling through space and could smash through tough meteorites.

  "It seems like... I've been influenced by Viltrumite in ways I didn't even notice."

  He stayed in the deep sea for another half hour, no longer in a rush to succeed but instead slowly experimenting with the limits of controlling his power.

  When his fingertips touched the fish's body, he would first feel the slippery scales, then gently adjust his force. But even so, a few fish were either crushed by him or managed to escape.

  After trying for a whole hour, Viktor finally started to get the hang of it a tiny bit.

  He held his breath, carefully catching two medium-sized, silver-white unknown fish, making sure his grip was just strong enough to trap them without causing harm.

  But just as he was about to rise to the surface, one of the fish suddenly began to struggle. He instinctively applied more force, but then he heard a crack, saw the fish's head was crushed, and blood spilled all over his hand.

  He stared at the fish in his hand and sighed helplessly. He just held onto the one fish that was still mostly intact, kicked his legs, and shot upwards toward the surface of the sea.

  After a few moments, Viktor burst out of the water with a spsh, shook the drops off his head, took a huge breath of fresh air, and looked up to see Tom sitting in the fishing boat, holding a fishing rod and calmly watching him.

  "How's the catch?"

  Tom's voice carried a hint of amusement, and his gaze fell on the weirdly squished fish in Viktor's hand. Viktor slightly pursed his lips, tossing the fish into the empty bucket on the fishing boat, and said with dissatisfaction.

  "The fish here are too fragile, and... I still haven't gotten used to Earth's gravity."

  Tom smiled, put down his fishing rod, and picked up a bucket to pour some seawater into the fish bucket.

  "Fishing isn't about brute strength. Just like on the battlefield, where you understand your enemy, here, you need to understand the sea."

  Viktor flew into the sky, feeling the sunlight warm his skin. He spun around gracefully, turning into a blur, shaking off all the water from his body.

  He gently nded, and just as he steadied himself on the fishing boat, Tom's voice suddenly came.

  "Do you want to become a superhero?"