Chapter 145: Mastering Tekkai, and Returning to Reality
When Kaito Shirogane saw [Heartless] again, the man had completely changed his avatar. He was now a hulking figure, over two meters tall, with his head covered by a hood and his face a bestial mask. The stark contrast made it hard to connect him with the somewhat naive Reincarnator from before.
Kaito looked at him and smiled. "It seems those plot characters gave you a pretty rough time."
[Heartless] froze. He hadn't expected "Mercenary Tao" to have already guessed his fate. It was true. Shortly after Kaito had left, he had been captured by A-Train. Cate had then used her mind control to make him "voluntarily" send messages to both Vought and Kaito, claiming he was acting alone. In reality, he had fallen under the control of A-Train and his allies, who had been torturing him for information about the Asians who had caused the disaster in New York.
"Mr. Tao is both wise and brave. I'm sure you foresaw this possibility when you gave Heartless the werewolf lineage item," a woman's voice said. She had blonde hair down to her shoulders, and her skin was so pale it seemed to glow. Her eyes were the color of emeralds. Even knowing it was just an avatar, she was a woman of unique and stunning beauty. She was about 170cm tall and made no effort to hide her face. Beside her stood a dark-haired man with a ponytail and a crescent-shaped scar across his face.
They were in the Z-district of the bazaar, the furthest point from the Goddess's Sanctum. Few Reincarnators ever came here.
The woman, codenamed [Providence], was clearly the leader of the three survivors.
Kaito just waved his hand, his face still a mask of false, flawless smiles. Due to his Elder God avatar, the expression, which should have been warm and welcoming, was instead terrifying. "You jest. How could I have possibly foreseen such a thing? I simply felt that a weak fellow like Heartless would eventually find himself in a life-threatening situation. And at that time… heh, my werewolf lineage item could save his life…"
[Providence] looked at Kaito's terrifying face. She had a feeling that in real life, he was probably quite handsome. Those who made their avatars this grotesquely ugly were often the ones who had enjoyed the benefits of their good looks a little too much. She didn't object to him calling [Heartless] weak. She just changed the subject. "Regardless of your reasons, your goal has been achieved. According to your covenant, we will pay you with items or Singularities of a corresponding value."
Kaito nodded, satisfied. The contract he had made with [Heartless] was an unequal, coercive one. It was, in essence, a forced sale, with the added condition of ensuring his survival. The [Werewolf] lineage, while having a powerful early-game effect, had limited potential. To advance it further, one would need to supplement it with other energy systems. Its benefits would be slowly nullified as one's own stats increased. A lineage item of that level, in the Nexus, would sell for a B-rank Singularity and maybe ten thousand DP at most.
But according to the contract, [Heartless] had to pay the equivalent of two B-rank Singularities and 15,000 DP. Kaito had effectively sold the item to him at double its market price.
[Heartless] kept his head bowed, ashamed. The man with the ponytail lit a cigarette, unconcerned. "The price is fair enough. It was the price of your life, after all." His tone was arrogant, not like a defeated fugitive, but like a great thief who had just inherited the legacy of the [9527] team.
[Providence] also nodded. She said to Kaito, "I would like to value the [Rokushiki Fragment - Tekkai] ability scroll as one B-rank Singularity plus 10,000 Dimensional Points. We will then give you another B-rank Singularity and 5,000 Dimensional Points to complete the covenant."
Her valuation was a little high, but not by much. A B-rank ability, especially a versatile physical technique like one of the [Rokushiki], was a highly liquid asset. Because physical combat, swordsmanship, and magic were the mainstream builds in the Nexus, their related items were always in high demand and their prices were slightly inflated.
Before Kaito could speak, [Providence] continued. "And in return for you sparing Heartless's life, we will not leak the information that you have seized the [Card]. We have already created chaos in two other mission worlds. The true location of the [Card] is now a complete mystery. Whether you want to use it yourself or sell it, you can rest assured."
The woman's words were flawless. Kaito smiled and nodded. The highest offer he had gotten for the werewolf lineage had been one B-rank Singularity and a few thousand DP. Now, he had basically gotten a [Rokushiki Fragment] scroll for free.
[DD99115435 (Providence) has initiated a trade.]
[You have obtained the Ability Scroll: Rokushiki Fragment - Tekkai (B-)]
[You have obtained 1 B-rank Singularity, 5000 Dimensional Points.]
[Your Covenant with LK99547854 (Heartless) is complete. The Covenant has been destroyed.]
After the trade, [Providence] gave Kaito one last look, nodded, and turned to leave. The man with the ponytail followed her. [Heartless], his avatar now changed, was about to leave as well, but he paused. "Mr. Tao," he said, "be careful. Your reputation… is getting a little too big."
With that, he also left, vanishing in a flash of light.
Kaito raised an eyebrow. He knew that with [Heartless]'s personality, that wasn't a threat or a curse. So… was it a genuine warning? Tsk. Such a naive, good-hearted person. Does he not know that I only let him live for my own profit?
He was inexplicably reminded of the surviving teenager from [The Fifth Element], of the anger and hatred in his eyes. Perhaps, what made humans human were these emotions that existed beyond the realm of pure logic.
He stopped thinking about such useless things and took out the scroll.
[Ability Scroll: Rokushiki Fragment - Tekkai (B-)]
[Learning Requirements: Constitution > 15, Strength > 15]
After his S+ rating, his attributes had been evenly distributed. Even with the erosion debuff, he still met the requirements. He crushed the scroll.
[You are learning the ability: Rokushiki Fragment - Tekkai.]
[Checking qualifications… Passed.]
[You have mastered the ability: Rokushiki - Tekkai Lv1.]
[Rokushiki - Tekkai (B-) Lv1: By controlling your blood flow and tensing your muscles, your body becomes as hard as rock. You are immune to low-intensity damage and gain a damage reduction effect.]
Lv1 Tekkai didn't have the "immune to gunfire" effect from the anime. He guessed he would have to level it up to achieve the kind of power the CP9 agents had displayed. Compared to Shaorii, which was a "soft" defense, Tekkai was a purely "hard" defense. It was less effective against powerful blunt-force trauma but was extremely strong against widespread attacks, as well as piercing and slashing strikes. And, he theorized, there was likely a strong connection between [Tekkai] and [Armament Haki].
With the contract settled, Kaito returned to the real world. He opened the curtains. Judging by the angle of the sun, less than ten minutes had passed.
He opened the door and shouted downstairs. "Lin! Get up here!"
Lin, who was getting his hand bandaged, gave his subordinate a look, and the man immediately left. Lin had decided to put some pressure on "Grinder."
He walked upstairs, clutching his hand. He found the monster sitting by the window, doing nothing.
"Those herbs. You can stop looking for some of them," Kaito said. "Just have someone ask around if anyone has heard of 'Immortality Grass' and 'Ziying.'"
He was deliberately giving Lin an opportunity, baiting Grinder to come to him. He knew that Reincarnators who had established their own factions were always constrained by things like reputation. If you enjoyed the benefits, you also had to accept the consequences.
Kaito looked at the footage from the surveillance cameras. He had originally planned to use them to set a fatal trap for Grinder. But after a full mission world, and after acquiring [Setsuna], he now looked forward to killing the man face-to-face.
The Infinite Space had very few restrictions on physical-type Reincarnators. As long as you didn't do something that flagrantly broke "common sense," you could use your abilities in the real world without punishment. In contrast, summoners and energy-projectors were severely restricted. The moment they were observed by a non-Reincarnator using an ability that clearly didn't belong in the modern world, they would trigger a [Timed Annihilation Mission]: kill all witnesses within the time limit, or be annihilated by the Nexus.
Kaito guessed the rule was based on the difficulty of "cognitive intervention." The Nexus was a ruthless merchant. It was "cheaper" for it to wipe the memory of a fistfight than to wipe the memory of a giant fox spirit. The cameras in this compound were now a hidden, deadly trap for any Reincarnator who might use a flashy, forbidden ability.