Chapter 24: Chill Life Midst Chaos, shunpo, cat and a snake.
Ren returned home, looking at the clock on the wall, he still had time until Ai came back.
He unlocked his phone, sent Ai a message.
Ren: When u and ur mother coming back?
He stared at his screen, and right after 15 seconds, Ai sent a reply back.
Ai: My mother forced me to stop by the shopping mall, buying stuff...
Ren: Aight, buy extra toothbrushes. Utaha used the last one today.
Ai: okay...
Ren: When are you two coming here?
Ai: We just got here, so minimum 2 hours, you know how my mother is.
Ren: bet, luv u, bye.
Ai: Me too...
Turning off the phone, Ren plopped on the cozy living room couch.
With two hours until the duo of daughter and mother get her, Ren could divert his whole attention to something he hadn't done today.
'Right, I still can't get used to this, System, perform Daily Sign-in.'
A transparent box appeared in his vision.
[Rolling... Calculating... Spinning the wheel...]
[Ding! Sign-in Successful, 91 Shop Points added to balance!]
[Remaining Balance: 1301 SP.]
Ren, looking at the substantial amount of points, mused, should he try upgrading the Sharingan, with a couple more sign-in's he should gather enough to upgrade.
'No, even if I do that, eye blindness drawback and random powers those eyes would come with, it isn't the priority, not including the fact that I still don't have any genjutsus...'
He didn't believe that the system would give him upgrades that caused him to lose eyesight, but he still preferred to stay cautious with it.
He carefully weighed his options, just with a 3-tomoe Sharingan, he already was close to untouchable when it came to close combat, with his almost ultimate body and reflexes that topped 99% of people he could quickly think of, this should be good for now.
'With the prowess of my eyes, I should focus on looking for something that could go hand in hand with my explosive strength, close and long ranged Lightning release, and instant reaction speed, hmm~, let's just....pull?'
'Shop, Gacha.'
With that thought, a Gacha menu opened up, he selected the x3 roll option, and concentrated with his eyes on the roll button.
[Confirmed!]
[Remaining Balance: 1001 SP.]
[Rolling... Calculating... Spinning the wheel...]
[Notice: Admin acquired the following items!]
[1. (W) Cream-Filled Cupcake: Ultimate Taste x10]
[Now available for purchase in the Shop!]
[2. (W) High-Carbon Steel Rod of Sharpness]
[Now available for purchase in the Shop!]
[3. (SR) Shunpo: Unique Mastery.]
Ren skimmed the three items he had just pulled.
Overall, a good harvest, but what's with the quirky names?
He looked at the ordinary-looking ten cupcakes in his inventory, opened the description, and the corner of his mouth twitched.
[Cream-Filled Cupcake: Ultimate Taste.]
[Following the recipe of the bright minds of chefs in Tōtsuki Culinary Academy, a curious Outer being baked a batch of his favorite food.]
[Satisfied with the result, he shared it with his friends, following which his baking became famous in all of the multiverse.]
'I'm not much of a sugar eater, but if they were made by an Outer, they should be pretty good.'
Ren took out one cupcake and inspected it.
An ordinary-looking pastry, covered in sugar powder, with a puff of cream on top.
Bringing it close to his nose, Ren sniffed it.
'God, what the f...'
Ren quickly threw it back into his inventory and gagged.
The overwhelming sweet and milky taste, with his inhuman senses, almost made him throw up.
'How in the world would anybody eat this, anyway?'
Ren stood up and went inside the kitchen, filled up a cup with water, and took a sip.
Holding it in his hand, he inspected the next item from the pull.
[High-Carbon Steel Rod of Sharpness.]
[An Outer being who specializes in blacksmithing got his hands on a large smuggled batch of quality High-Carbon Steel.]
[With the help of his favorite grinding stone, Outer gave it a sharp edge, with a quick few hasty finishing touches, made it look more or less like a sword.]
[As a result, the steel rod will never lose its edge despite its poor looks.]
'That's, actually pretty good...'
Knowing what an Outer was, and one who was a pro in making blades, Ren already guessed that the end product should be decent.
Placing the cup with water back on the kitchen counter, Ren extended his hand, and with a thought, a long steel rod appeared in his grip.
At first look, just an ordinary steel rod that was quite masterfully sharpened, with a simple leather wrap that made the perfect grip for the hand.
Ren turned the 'blade' in his hand, stepping into a more open area of the living room, he swung it diagonally a few times.
Perfectly balanced blade, perfect for quick and precise attacks, with the edge that would never become dull, Ren could abuse it as much as he wanted.
'Supervibrato'
He decided to combine it with his lightning release.
With a hum, the blade got covered with a bluish chakra layer, from time to time cracking with lightning.
Once again, he swung the blade from side to side, from top to bottom, and in a couple of circular motions.
Each time the blade would make a crackling sound, lightning zipping in the afterimage of the sword.
'Well, offensive side is covered, now, the defensive side.'
[Shunpo: Unique Mastery.]
[Defensive style of fighting which relates to footwork. Movement technique that allows the user to move faster than the eye can follow. Speed is the main factor of the technique.]
[A technique that originally required a form of spiritual energy known as Reiatsu, but any user possessing any form of spiritual energy, with the help of the system, can use this skill.]
[Notice: Admin, as your body holds large quantities of Chakra, Shunpo: Unique Mastery will require Chakra instead of Reiatsu, possible with both energies having a spiritual origin.]
As Ren finished reading the description, all the information related to Shunpo slipped into his head.
'So the blinking like technique Shinigami learned. More advanced version of the Body Flicker Technique that ninjas used, but with an addition of some sort of cooldown, well, blame the author for that.'
Red hue flickered in Ren's eyes, and he concentrated his eyes on his surroundings.
shunp
His figure flickered, and he disappeared from the kitchen and appeared right in the entrance area of the first floor.
Ren looked back at the distance he had covered.
'Show me my chakra levels.'
[Chakra: 799.90 units]
After a moment, it updated.
[Chakra: 800 units]
'So small distances use barely anything, need more testing, might as well go outside.'
shunp
He once again flickered and appeared on the top of the stairs, looking at the door that led to the balcony on the second floor.
shunp
Ren reached the handle and went outside on the open balcony terrace.
'Chakra levels?'
[Chakra: 799.80 units]
[Chakra: 800 units]
'Hmm~, covered by Serum, completely, good to know.'
He stepped closer to the ledge, bringing his leg up and stepping on the railing. Ren was about to jump when two chairs and a table caught his attention in the corner of his eye.
Thinking back on his previous gagging sounds from smelling the cupcake.
'Didn't that Lolita like eating, especially really sweet things?'
A distant memory with the image of a certain dragon loli eating cookies.
'Might as well try, if I can keep feeding her, she will just stay here, snatching her away from those lunatics will not only doom their plans, she will also more or less be safer by my side.'
'Was there something about her being split in two or whatnot...'
Ren shook his head.
He really couldn't remember, just the memories of some devils abusing her second part and manipulating her actions.
Ren came closer to the table, opened his shop, and quickly found what he was looking for.
[Confirmed!]
[Remaining Balance: 1000 SP.]
A fancy-looking plate, with a metallic finish, appeared in his hand, costing him a mere 1 point.
Ren set it on the balcony table, and taking out one cupcake, he placed it in the middle.
His house was located on a small hill, in a more or less calm area, mostly family houses and a few schools around.
Most likely, a certain flying figure will catch a smell of the sweets if she passes by.
With his trap being complete, Ren turned around and jumped on the balcony railing, with ease balancing his weight standing on top of it.
With his sharp gaze, he scanned the area, choosing the direction where, in the dark, he would be less likely to be noticed.
shunp
Ren appeared on the roof of the house that was located a couple of blocks away.
Turning around and looking at his house.
'That's like, what, one football field?'
[Chakra: 799.75 units]
[Chakra: 800 units]
'The hell, system, why this distance barely used any chakra?'
[Notice: With the vast knowledge about Shunpo that was provided by Unique Mastery, speed, distance, and energy consumption are greatly improved.]
'.....'
Yet again, system pull was a greater version of its original.
Shaking his head, he didn't even think about it; it made sense, though.
shunp shunp shunp shunp shunp
As Ren continued to jump from roof to roof, from roof to telephone pole.
Standing on the top of the wooden beam, an idea popped into his head.
Looking up at the sky, 'Well, worth the try, worst case scenario, I just make a crash landing.'
shunp
After appearing in the sky, before gravity made him fall back down, Ren circulated chakra flowing through his body, concentrated a small amount in the sole of his foot, imagining to perform a pushing-like motion against the air.
whoosh shunp
Ren shifted and appeared in the air, above a now already different block of houses, with a satisfied smile, a wild idea, inspired by Shinigami being able to stand in the air, worked.
shunp shunp shunp
If one looked up from the ground, they would see nothing wrong, just a regular dark sky.
While from the Ren's perspective, he could perceive each movement, every time his surroundings changed, his eyes moving with lightning speed, he processed every detail, continuing to push against the air and flicker in the sky.
Landing on the taller building, already traveling quite a distance away from his house, Ren checked his chakra levels.
[Chakra: 789.50 units]
[Chakra: 790 units]
[Chakra: 790.50 units]
Waiting for a few moments more, he regenerated his chakra pool.
'I can't imagine what it's like possessing higher tiers of physical constitution.'
Shaking his head, he should be grateful for what he had, it was already way too overpowered.
Taking his phone from his pocket, Ren checked the maps, looking around from the office building he stood on, he couldn't recognize the area.
'Huh, Kuoh?'
Ren somehow travelled two whole prefectures and ended up in Kuoh town.
Stepping on the ledge on the rooftop, he looked down.
Scanning the streets below with his eyes, he noticed something strange.
'Hmm~?'
Looking closer, with red color circling more intensely in his eyes.
He peered through a barrier, a blurry patch that covered a small area a couple of blocks away.
There on the street, he saw three figures: a cat, a man with a sword, and some kind of snake entity; they were in a fight.
'Ah, nightly patrolling duties, makes sense, should I help?'
Ren gazed at the fight, crossing his arms and calmly looking down from the roof.
Despite him standing quite far away, from where a regular eye would not even see him, he was observing them with ease.
'Looks like they need help, meh, might as well.'
Ren, pushing against the edge of the roof, flickered down.
shunp shunp shunp
---
Being a reincarnated devil, people usually got a lot of benefits from it.
But with great power comes great responsibility.
Being in the peerage of Rias Gremory, all reincarnated devils had an obligation to patrol the Kuoh Town area during the night, when the supernatural was most active.
This night, a pair of Koneko Tojo and Yuuto Kiba, have encountered a strong stray devil right at the start of their patrol.
clang, shhhhh
Young swordsman, blocking the fierce tail attack of the large snake with a human head, slid backwards, barely holding his balance.
huff huff
With rough breathing, he quickly looked to his side, where his companion was trying to get back on her feet.
"Koneko!" he jumped close to her and, tugging on her hand, helped her stand up. "We should perform a double attack, from both sides. Jumping on that thing one by one is not working."
White haired cat, now standing on her feet, looked at the huge monster with wild hair, who was at the moment giving his evil speech, nodded, "Yes, but prolonging this battle seems meaningless, its power seems to be in the high mid-class..."
Kiba, hearing her say that, nodded with a grim expression.
The stray devil indeed possessed rare prowess, standing on the stronger side of wanted criminals.
With stray devils being done giving his typical evil speech, he started slithering closer to them.
Seeing him move, both Koneko and Kiba quickly asserted battle stance, just as they were about to move.
shunp
"Whoa~!!!" A sudden excited voice came from behind them, "That thing sure is scary looking."
Not noticing anyone being behind them beforehand, the devil duo, on high alert, dashed to the side.
Looking at the face of the figure slowly walking under the street lights.
"Hoshino-san?" x2 dumbfounded duo instantly recognized him
"Kekeke~ A human? Kekeke~ How foolish, but more pray for me!!! Kekeke~"
A huge, snake-looking monster lunged forward right into the Ren, ignoring the two devils who stood on its side.
Ren, watching the slow-moving stray, tilted his head, glancing at the other two; those two barely even reacted. In slow motion, he kept looking at their changing facial expressions.
'Tsk, and here I thought this was a good chance to test a few things.'
His reflexes and perception of time made this scary-looking monster look like a toddler.
shunp
His figure flickered, and a large body of snake-like devil landed, crashing into the cement street sidewalk, where he previously stood.
While it tried standing back up, on...its tail?
Ren appeared beside the slow-reacting duo.
"Yo~, you guys need help?"
Yet again, not seeing him move, Kiba turned around and stared at the smiling face of his schoolmate.
"H-hoshino-san, why are you here? It's dangerous!!!"
Koneko nodded and turned around to watch out for the stray.
Ren casually patted Kiba on the shoulder, "Meh, I was trying out my new movement technique, and saw you from a distance having a tough time, you need help?"
Kiba, not being able to follow his hand movements, even more confused, "Movement? Techinuqe? Hoshino-san, that is a very strong stray!!" he exclaimed and pointed at the nearing snake.
'This is pointless,' Ren once more patted him on the shoulder, and walked through the duo, "Anyway, wait a sec, I wanted to try out my sword anyway."
'Supervibrato'
The sword appeared in his grip, with a bluish chakra layer spreading through its blade.
He calmly started walking in the direction of the huge devil.
Kiba, seeing him pass through them, was about to reach out to stop him.
"W-wait, Hoshino-san!"
Koneko, too, with her fists up, was ready to jump forward.
"Kekeke~, Confident one, I see, Kekeke~" Snake Stray's eyes glimmered with killing intent, and it was about to perform another lunging attack.
Ren just tilted his head, watching the devil move, brought his sword down to his leg, and flickered.
shunp
Before the large snake devil could even react, seeing the human disappear, its eyes slightly constricted.
Ren appeared before the large monster, holding a crackling blade.
His hand flickered, following a diagonal trajectory from his leg, upwards, and, without much resistance, cut the stray in half.
crackle, sling, plop plop
Looking at two falling body parts, Ren sighed. The sword passed through its body like cutting butter.
Quickly placing a sharp, rough-looking steel rod into his inventory, he turned his head to the young devils.
"I don't know what the fuss was all about; that thing didn't even get to react."
Kiba, wide-eyed, moved his eyes between the now dead huge stray, sliced in two, and the smiling face of his schoolmate.
"Uhm~ H-hoshino-san, t-thank you for the h-help, uuuh~"
Koneko, too, mouth agape, fists still up, was processing what they had just witnessed.
Looking at their stunned faces, shook his head, and he once again patted Kiba on the shoulder.
"Well, anyway, I was just taking a stroll, I still need to go back home, see ya."
Kiba, hearing his words, "W-ait, I think we still need to talk!"
Koneko furiously nodded, looking at Ren's face.
Ren stopped, looked back at the two, and smiled.
He reached out his hand to Kenoko, with a cream cupcake appearing in his hand.
"Don't bother, I will visit your club tomorrow."
Kiba, processing his words, finally calmed down, "Fine."
Ren placed the cupcake on Koneko's palms. "Alright, I'll jump out of here."
"Thank..."
shunp
"...you."
Not being able to thank him for delicious-smelling food, Koneko shrugged her shoulders and bit into it.
"Mmmmmmmm~"
"S-so tasty!!!"
nom nom nom
---
[(SR) Lightning Release: Supervibrato.]
[Taking inspiration from the unique fighting style of Killer B with Supervibrato Lightning Release Swords. This specific jutsu grants the user the ability to coat any weapon in deadly lightning chakra.]
[Weapons gain near-unlimited durability and cutting capability. More advanced and chakra-consuming ability to act akin to lighting arrows shooting from the tip of your weapon, speed and damage vary on chakra channeled into the attack.]
- Hoshino Ren
- SP: 1000
- Body: 500 units
- Chakra: 800 units [Further upgrades possible with the use of SP.]
- 3-Tomoe Sharingan (R) [Further upgrades possible with the use of SP.]
- Shunpo: Unique Mastery (SR)
- Lightning Release: Supervibrato (SR)
- Lightning Release: Chidori (R)
- Close Combat Mastery (R)
- High-Carbon Steel Rod of Sharpness (W) (inventory)
- Cream-Filled Cupcake: Ultimate Taste (W) x8 (inventory)
[Genin 1-25; Chunin 25-100; Jonin 100-250; Kage 250-1000; Six-Paths 1000-???]
[Low-level 1-50; Mid-level 50-200; High-class 200-500; Ultimate-class 500-1000]
[Satan/Demigod 1000-2500; Super Devil/God 2500-10000; Beyond known measurements 10000-???]