That's right—among oni-kind yokai, the vast majority are famously able to drink a thousand cups without getting drunk, and most of them genuinely adore fine alcohol.
But Ren Kuroda was only a half-demon.
In his previous life, he had been the type who never touched alcohol at all—one sip and he'd be out cold. After reincarnating, he'd almost never drunk either. And now this newly awakened oni ability was clearly tied directly to alcohol. If he'd brought that utterly hopeless drinking constitution with him into this life… then wouldn't this ability be nothing more than a glorified waste?
Sure, drinking could boost combat power—but that only mattered if he could stay conscious. If he couldn't even manage that, what was the point of getting stronger only to collapse unconscious on the ground?
And judging from the skill description, it wasn't as simple as just drinking anything. The quality and quantity of the alcohol consumed were directly linked to how much his strength increased.
Which meant that even if Ren grabbed a few bottles of cheap beer off the street right now, the boost to his yokai power and physical strength would probably be negligible.
The reward had already been issued, and the system clearly didn't offer refunds or exchanges. So no matter how helpless he felt, Ren could only accept it in silence.
Still unwilling to give up, he decided that once this was over, he'd head to a nearby izakaya and test whether his current body might actually be able to hold its liquor.
And even if he couldn't, he'd have to start training himself in that area. Because for an actual drunkard, this oni-type 『Fear』 ability was nothing short of god-tier.
Getting an S-rank skill was certainly something to celebrate, but Ren still wasn't sure whether this 『Fear』 could immediately become part of his combat power. So before long, his attention shifted back to his remaining "Prestige Points."
After the battle in Tokyo, Ren had harvested a massive amount of prestige—both from the human side and the yokai side.
Originally, he'd had a total of fifty thousand prestige points: thirty thousand "Human Prestige" and twenty thousand "Yokai Prestige."
But between gathering materials to create artificial bodies, exchanging large quantities of "Yokai Power Crystals" to strengthen the yokai of Tokyo, and casually winning people over, he'd spent a tremendous amount.
Now, including the rewards he'd just claimed, Ren still had a full thirty thousand prestige left—ten thousand Human Prestige and twenty thousand Yokai Prestige.
And this time, he planned to go big.
He set the lottery pulls straight to the ten-thousand-per-draw tier.
It wasn't that he was being reckless just because he was rich now. Rather, as his strength increased, anything drawn from pulls below five thousand prestige was becoming almost meaningless to him.
Instead of increasing the number of draws and getting a pile of mediocre upgrades, Ren would rather pay a high price for something that could give him a clear, noticeable boost right now.
As the full thirty thousand prestige rapidly ticked down and vanished, three dazzling, diamond-like coins clattered out of the machine.
One hundred prestige was a copper coin. Five hundred was silver. One thousand was gold. Five thousand was usually a platinum coin.
And now—ten thousand prestige per pull meant diamond coins.
Ren, who had just been a "ten-thousandaire," instantly became broke again after exchanging everything for those three outrageously high-class diamond coins.
When he casually fed the first diamond coin into the slot, the overwhelming array of items and skills displayed above made his eyes spin all over again.
After so many pulls, Ren had long since figured out how this slot machine worked.
The higher the coin value, the higher the grade of items and skills that appeared—and the more glowing slots there were.
This time, after dropping a ten-thousand-prestige diamond coin, Ren was brimming with confidence. Surely the chance of hitting a jackpot had to be at least two-thirds… or even higher, right?
After all, even when he used lower-value coins before, the jackpot rate had been nearly fifty percent.
Now that he'd gone all in with a ten-thousand-prestige pull, wasn't a big win basically guaranteed?
But reality promptly slapped him in the face.
When the diamond coin went in, only half of the slots lit up—exactly the same as before.
The difference was that among the glowing slots, four of them weren't just shining—they were radiating an eye-searing crimson light.
With effects and presentation like that, even an idiot could tell that whatever those four red slots contained was absolutely extraordinary.
With a crisp clink, the diamond coin disappeared into the slot, and the machine's lights began racing wildly.
Ren's gaze locked firmly onto those four crimson slots.
Even though he knew that, with his notorious "Chief-level" luck, the odds of landing on one of those red slots were practically nonexistent… dreams were free. What if this time, it actually happened?
Because this pull had been made using Human Prestige, all the items displayed this time were things humans could use.
The spinning lights gradually slowed. Under Ren's tense gaze, the illuminated symbol finally came to a stop.
It landed on a normally glowing slot.
Which meant he'd won—but not the so-called grand prize.
He hadn't hit the red slot, but he had landed on one of the glowing ones within the fifty-percent success range.
All things considered, his luck wasn't great—but it wasn't terrible either. With only a fifty-percent chance, avoiding the most basic consolation prize already counted as decent.
With only four red slots among so many possibilities, the odds had been absurdly low anyway, so Ren didn't feel too disappointed.
And when he saw what he'd drawn, his expression didn't darken at all—because this item was genuinely useful to him right now.
"Item Name: Complete Guide to KidōItem Rank: S– to S+Item Description: Originally Kidō techniques used by Shinigami in battle. After system modification, they can now be used with spiritual power or yokai power.Kidō is divided into offensive 『Hadō』, binding and defensive 『Bakudō』, and healing 『Kaidō』. Power increases with the numbered level of the technique."
Seeing the "Complete Guide to Kidō," Ren couldn't help but grin.
He had studied at an onmyō academy before, but he'd never really been able to learn advanced Five Elements spellcraft, and his overall proficiency with talismans and incantations had been painfully average.
Compared to chanting long, tongue-twisting spells while constantly changing hand seals, Ren had always preferred charging in with a blade and cutting things down.
Still, he couldn't deny that Five Elements techniques were incredibly useful in certain situations—it was just that he'd never been able to grasp their true essence.
But this modified version of Kidō made him genuinely happy. With this in hand, he could practically pass himself off as a real "Great Onmyōji."
After all, Kidō from the Shinigami world shared a striking similarity with the Five Elements techniques commonly used by exorcists.
Both required chants or specific gestures, and in terms of power and versatility, they were largely comparable—ultimately dependent on the user's own strength.
The key difference was that once Kidō reached a certain level of mastery, the user could abandon chanting altogether and cast spells instantly—no talismans or external tools required.
From that perspective alone, Kidō clearly had the advantage.
And with the Complete Guide to Kidō, Ren could finally make up for his formerly one-dimensional combat style. While launching Wind–Forest–Fire–Mountain assaults, he could now layer in instant-cast Kidō to force openings in his opponent's defense.
"I can just use the Tenjōin family's inherited techniques as an excuse for Kidō," Ren muttered smugly."Let's see Kamishiro Isshin and Kyoka try mocking me again—calling me a fake exorcist."
After calming himself down, Ren fed the second diamond coin into the slot.
At this point, he wasn't even hoping for one of the four red-slot jackpots anymore. He just prayed the result wouldn't be too terrible—something acceptable as a normal reward.
But as Murphy's Law would have it, the more you fear something, the more likely it is to happen.
Standing before the massive slot machine, Ren watched where the lights stopped, his expression twitching.
This time, his luck didn't hold.
The lights didn't stop on a glowing slot—much less a red one—but instead landed squarely on an ordinary, unlit slot.
In short, with a fifty-percent chance… he'd hit the so-called "consolation prize."
That was ten thousand prestige points.
If not for the massive haul he'd scored earlier, he might not even have been able to save up that much after running between two worlds. And now it had gone down the drain in a single pull.
But as Ren looked at the result with lingering regret, his expression slowly began to change.
Because he suddenly realized that although this "consolation prize" was lower in rank, its effect was absurdly good.
The second diamond coin had been exchanged using Yokai Prestige, so the rewards this time were mostly yokai abilities or physical traits.
What Ren pulled was a yokai ability—one belonging to a creature that wasn't particularly strong, but possessed a power he'd long coveted.
"Skill Name: RegenerationSkill Rank: ASkill Effect: An ability of the yokai Nuta-bō. Because its body is formed from swampy mud, it can regenerate damage by consuming yokai power."
Worthy of a ten-thousand-prestige pull indeed— even the lowest-tier reward was still A-rank.
But whether it was a "consolation prize" or not didn't matter to Ren anymore.
Because this skill called "Regeneration" was something he'd dreamed of having for a very, very long time.