Night fell, and the Familia's base was brightly lit.
A small banquet had been set up in the Loki Familia's dining hall. Members raised their cups and mingled, while premium ingredients like giant black fish and monster elephant meat were neatly arranged across the tables.
"What's the occasion?"
Finn and the others had just returned to the Familia when they saw the lively scene and couldn't help but be surprised.
"What? Ryoji's back, and he's already reached Level 5?!"
The dwarf warrior Gareth stared wide-eyed at Raul, who had just told him the news, his mouth hanging open for quite a while.
"You serious?!"
The werewolf Bete glared fiercely at Raul, the blue tattoos on his body writhing slightly, radiating a vicious aura.
Seeing Ryoji surrounded in the center of the crowd, constantly being toasted, the three of them fell silent at the same time.
Finn and Gareth, aside from their shock, mostly felt delight.
Only Bete's face remained tense, a strong sense of urgency surfacing in his expression.
Late at night.
Ryoji returned to his room.
He hadn't drunk any alcohol, nor could he handle it, so he had substituted tea for wine the entire time, though his body still carried a faint trace of alcohol.
Turning on the magic stone lamp, Ryoji opened a drawer and pulled out a sheet of paper from beneath several books.
It was something he had written the last time he left, unsure if he would return, he had recorded his origins and destination and hidden it here.
But since he had only been gone for a little over ten days, no one had come to search his room.
Now, it was no longer needed.
Thinking this, Ryoji tore the paper into pieces.
For now, it seemed that aside from worlds he entered using an avatar, where his true body would be unable to cross over, any world he personally traveled to could still be revisited even after leaving. The only uncertainty was the timing.
"Time to rest."
Stretching, Ryoji walked toward his bed.
Come to think of it, perhaps someone had been cleaning regularly, his room didn't have a speck of dust and looked spotless. Whoever it was, probably one of the girls, had been quite thoughtful.
But just as he reached the bedside, he suddenly stopped.
From beneath the covers came the sound of breathing, clearly suppressed, but to his enhanced hearing after leveling up, it was unmistakably loud.
'Whoosh!'
Ryoji yanked off the blanket.
Underneath lay the brown-skinned Amazoness little sister. Curled up on the bed, her body was covered only by a few pieces of cloth over key areas, her bright eyes blinking as she looked up at him.
"What are you doing here, Tiona?"
"Ryoji, let's sleep together tonight!"
Ten seconds later,
With a loud 'bang', the door to the room was flung shut.
Tiona's figure had been thrown out of the room, landing outside in a sitting position, looking utterly dejected.
She had been so sure the timing was right, tonight should've been enough to turn things into a done deal. So why was she still thrown out?
Why give up an entire forest for a single tree?
If Ryoji knew what she was thinking, he would definitely reply:
More importantly, this "tree" is way too flat!
…
It was now May, and the morning air still carried a hint of the lingering chill of late spring.
Ryoji wore a simple T-shirt and long pants. Though they looked a bit thin, with his current Level 5 physique, he could completely ignore minor chills or heat.
At the break of dawn, he came to the courtyard and took out his Spiritual Item (Device), the Vrring Blade.
He hadn't had time yesterday, today, he planned to properly test the results of his battle with Twin Wings.
"First, the Spiritual Item (Device) itself."
Ryoji held the katana in his hand, its blade shimmering with rippling silver light like water.
With a thought,
The sword immediately glowed, and within less than a second, its form blurred and shifted, transforming into a one-handed longsword shaped like a cross.
It was precisely Twin Wings' sword.
"As expected, I even copied Twin Wings' sword!"
Ryoji's expression lit up with excitement.
And not just that.
With another flick of his mind, his left hand, held empty, also began to glow. Silver particles gathered and formed a second Vrring Blade.
With another thought, the second blade also transformed into Twin Wings' cross-shaped sword.
Looking at them, he now held a pair of dual swords identical to Twin Wings' Spiritual Item (Devices).
"A new ability has awakened."
Ryoji slowly let out a breath.
That's right.
At the very end of his battle with Twin Wings, he had awakened a brand-new ability!
Just like when he first awakened his dimension-crossing ability, this time he had awakened the replication function of his Spiritual Item (Device).
….As long as it was a sword-type weapon, he could perfectly copy it.
This so-called "sword-type weapon" wasn't limited to literal swords in shape, but rather anything that fit the conceptual definition of a sword. That meant not only Twin Wings' dual swords, but also katanas, short swords, and even sword-type Noble Phantasms of Heroic Spirits could all be replicated.
Not just the appearance, but the abilities too would be identical to the original.
Moreover, after this awakening, his Spiritual Item (Device) no longer seemed limited in number. Dual-wielding two swords like this posed no issue at all.
That said, Spiritual Item (Devices) would disappear if they moved too far away from him, and they couldn't be projected or launched like projectiles. So unlike something like Unlimited Blade Works, having a large number didn't really offer much advantage.
"…But Twin Wings' ability wasn't copied."
Ryoji sensed the dual swords in his hands.
They were merely a pair of Spiritual Item (Device) swords, without any special abilities attached.
This was likely because a Blazer's special abilities came from the Blazer themselves, not from their Spiritual Item (Device). The Device was simply a crystallization of the user's soul and didn't inherently possess abilities, though some abilities required the Device to be used.
So even if he copied Twin Wings' swords, he couldn't copy her personal abilities. The same applied to other Blazers.
Otherwise, he could've just copied Kurogane Ikki's physical ability doubling and learned Ittou Shura, that would've been perfect.
"Looks like I'll need to put in more effort on the TYPE-MOON side… I should copy as many Saber-class Noble Phantasms as possible."
Ryoji quickly organized his thoughts.
At the moment, his counterpart in the TYPE-MOON world was training under Scáthach alongside Aozaki Aoko, so there probably wouldn't be any major developments there in the short term.
"Next, sword techniques."
Ryoji calmed his mind.
Raising the dual swords, he swung them in a forward-and-back motion in a single instant.
In that moment, a cross-shaped slash like a flash of light appeared midair, its speed astonishingly divine.
"Amazing… the Twin Wings Style!"
Ryoji swung the dual swords freely, his face full of exhilaration.
This sword technique could only be described as unbelievable; it had already surpassed the realm that ordinary humans could master.
By generating special electrical signals within his body, Ryoji could simultaneously control every muscle in an instant, concentrating the strength of his entire body into a single strike.
Because of this, there was no acceleration phase in his swings; he could go from 0 straight to 100, achieving maximum speed instantly and completely skipping the process of acceleration.
Even Newton would be left speechless.
(End of Chapter)
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