Kyoto - Souta's Home
-Souta-
It's been 4 days since unsealing my youkai half and unlocking the system, which makes today a Wednesday. If you hadn't already realised, I decided to graduate early, meaning I don't have to bother with school anymore. I've already informed Dad, who said he'd handle the paperwork for me and have the certificate sent to the house once it's been processed.
I've also let the few friends I had at school know I was graduating early. I wasn't overly close with them; we just hung out from time to time, but it was nice hearing them wish me luck with running the store.
That's right. I made it official and let Dad know that I was going to run the store while using the leaf to explore different worlds and find items to sell at the store.
I also asked if he had ever used the leaf to travel, but he said he hadn't and that the only time he used it was to return after taking his parents to Gensokyo. He said he met Mum not too long after they left, so instead decided to take up the guardian role more seriously. He ended up using the wealth left behind by his parents to buy major shares in Powerson as well as purchasing a few apartment buildings that he rents out. That way, if anyone ever returns, they will have places to stay and work at, not that he's ever heard of anyone returning before, but he said either way it was a good investment.
During the last 4 days I also decided to experiment with the system, and what I've learnt so far is that the system isn't sentient; it doesn't respond verbally, but it does respond when I think about wanting to open the system, which makes it so I can see what active and passive abilities I have in my mind, such as 'System'.
[Mystic Fruit Creator]
[Active: Mystic Fruit Synthesis] [+]
[Passive: Mystic Fruit Analysis] [+]
[Passive: Sea's Boon] [+]
[Passive: Will of Three] [+]
[Passive: Edible] [+]
It shows the names of the abilities, but if I want to know more about them, then I just have to reach out with my mind and tap the + symbols, which is pretty nifty even if it doesn't pop up like the screen that I've read in other stories.
Over the past 4 days I've also tried my hand at making my first Mystic Fruit, and so far, it hasn't worked at all. I've tried milk, hoping to get a logia fruit, but when I attempt to synthesise a bottle of milk, all it does is encase it in an orb of energy that pulses a few times and then fizzles out. This got me thinking there wasn't enough milk, so I bought 4 more bottles, and it lasted longer but still fizzled out, so either I don't have enough milk, or I am missing a key material.
I also tried a few other items like a bathtub full of water, spools of thread and a variety of items I found around the house, but they all fizzled out as well. I've yet to try it on an animal, so that testing will have to wait until later. I'd feel bad just getting any animal from a pet shop, so I'd have to look for something wilder and potentially more vicious or maybe something that has already passed away.
But today, today that all changes. I remembered a fruit used in the show called the Brush-Brush fruit, which could summon any colour of ink, and using a brush could bring any drawings the user made to life in the third dimension.
So, with that said, the items I picked up today were a large selection of different coloured ink and a variety of brushes, such as art brushes, decorating brushes and calligraphy brushes, all in different sizes.
Gathering the items in front of me, I begin the process, holding out my hands over the objects. A glass-like dome appears around them; it pulses slowly from the top to the bottom of the dome while letting out a quiet hum with each pulse. It takes less than a minute for the pulse to reach the highest tempo I've seen it do yet, and just as it's about to complete, it fizzles out like the rest of my attempts.
"Damn it, it was so close. What am I missing? How is this not everything I need for the fruit?" As soon as the words leave my mouth, I slap the palm of my hand into my face, letting out a groaning sound.
I'm such a fucking idiot. Of course it hasn't been working. How the bloody hell am I meant to make a Mystic Fruit without having some fruit to attach the powers to during the synthesis process?
Coming back to my room after picking up a pear from the kitchen, I set it down near the ink and brushes and begin the synthesis process again. Just as it's about to complete, the dome stops pulsing and begins to shrink; the objects inside begin glowing, and one by one, they start getting sucked into the fruit. The dome has now shrunk to perfectly cover the fruit, acting like a skin-tight barrier. The fruit has stopped glowing, and the outer layer of the fruit starts to warp as patterns begin to appear until the process has stopped and the barrier surrounding the fruit pops.
And the system prompt that follows is all I need to know that I've successfully made my first Mystic Fruit.
[Hidden Achievement Completed] Create your first Mystic Fruit, unlocks - [Passive: Uniquely Stocked]
[Passive: Uniquely Stocked]
As with the world of One Piece, the law of the world dictates only one of each type of fruit may exist in the world at any one time; for you this has no meaning. You may create as many of the same type of fruit as you wish, but only one may be consumed per world. This passive allows you to create and store as many as you want so you may trade them in other worlds later. (Attempting to eat a duplicate fruit in the same world will not grant the power of the fruit; instead, the consumer will taste what the original devil fruits tasted like.)
So, there are hidden achievements as well, plus that's an amazing passive; the ability to stock up on fruits without limit is nice. Hmm, I wonder what would happen if 2 people from different worlds ate the same fruit and ended up in the same world together.
Picking up the pear, I can clearly see some differences. The stem has turned to a dark brown colour and looks like the wooden handle of a brush. From there, the pear becomes a black colour that looks like someone's spilt ink onto the pear, and all the way around, starting from the base of the stem, there are white fishhook patterns. Where the ink pattern ends towards the thicker part of the pear, the colour becomes pure white, like a canvas with standard swirls of a devil fruit in various colours.
Using analysis on the fruit, I see more details.
[Brush-Brush Fruit]
The user of the fruit can generate any colour of ink from their body and, using a brush, is able to turn images they create with that ink into three-dimensional, lifelike objects. The user can also provide properties to the images they have created, such as conscience to animals, the ability to shoot with weapons and sharpness to swords. The user is also able to speak and sense through the images created as well as turn their own body into a two-dimensional image, thus providing them with the ability to hide.
Fruit Type: Paramecia
Fruit used:Pear
Weakness: The strength and abilities of the drawings are highly reliant on the artistic skill of the user; poor drawings are much weaker, and lifelike constructs are prone to exhaustion.
Interesting.
I can't stop smiling as I look at my first mystic fruit. This is the first step; at least I know where I was going wrong now.
After a small break and grabbing some food, I decided to try again with the milk, water and strings to see if they would work, and unfortunately, they didn't. They lasted longer with the fruit added in, but they were all missing something, and I think I know what's missing for the milk and the strings.
I believe the milk requires a few different types of milk, as there isn't only cow's milk in existence, so I'll need to get my hands on some other types of milk to create a milk-milk logia fruit, and for the string-string fruit, I believe I'll need various lengths, sizes and maybe even colours of string to make it.
[Split]
Standing outside the store, I look up at its sign, Dreamleaf Trader. I guess they decided to name it after Great Red and the leaf of the clan as a form of respect.
Taking the key from around my neck, I slot it into the lock and twist.
*Cla-click*
Pushing the door open, I'm immediately hit with some dust. Cough, cough. "Yep, no one's been here in a long time," I say as I try waving my arm in front of my face to waft away the dust.
After the dust settles, I take a quick look around the store; across from the entrance is a long display case with a dark wooden countertop and a till on top.
The floor of the shop is also made of wood but in a lighter shade compared to the countertop.
The walls of the shop have wooden panels about 4 feet high from the floor in the same shade as the countertop. You can see where each separate panel meets on the left and right, but the top of the panels leading into the wall is seamless. Each of the panels has a bark-like pattern to it.
The walls are cream in colour, complementing the dark of the wood, and sprawled along the walls are various lengths and sizes of pots integrated into the walls where plants and hanging ivy were used to bring life into the room; unfortunately, with no one to care for them, they've all ended up withering. A closer look at the long, beam-shaped pots shows little circular holes with round, crystal-like orbs in them.
Grabbing one, I immediately feel a sort of energy drain from me as the orb begins glowing. Dropping it back into the hole, I take a few steps back just in case. After a couple of minutes waiting, I've come to the realisation that they were probably just some sort of magical crystals used as a bulb.
I suppose that makes watering the plants easier; imagine using electrical bulbs while doing that.
There is a door on the back-right side of the store leading to a restroom. Also, there are two doors on the back wall behind the counter; one leads to a kitchen plus rest area. It has light grey carpet flooring, white walls, and a couple of couches and chairs surrounding a coffee table, with the kitchen itself being further in the back against the wall.
The other room is an empty storage room with multiple storage shelves and empty crates; it also has plain white walls and the same wooden flooring as the main area of the store.
I can work with this; it just needs a bit of a cleaning up and some new plants and hanging ivy to bring some life back into the place, and I'll be ready for my first world travel.
[Split]
I came back home after I finished giving the store a quick clean with some materials that I found in the storage room; it's nowhere near finished, but it's a start.
Once I was done with my daily workout, I decided to give Dad a call and update him on the store situation, and I also had a few questions for him regarding Yasaka.
*Ring Ring*
"Souta, how's my favourite son doing?"
Rolling my eyes, "Dad, I'm your only son."
"Exactly," he says while laughing.
"Anyway, I'm doing good. I was just calling to let you know I finished checking out the store. It still needs a lot of work, but it shouldn't take long to fix it up. I also found the dragon's maw statue in a safe on the floor behind the counter; it opened using the same key as the store." I say as I look at the new ring on my finger.
"Ah, I forgot to tell you where your grandparents had left it. Well, at least you have found it now. Also, if you need any money to fix up the store, just let me know."
Before calling Dad, I already decided to let him know about me being able to make mystic fruits. I won't tell him about the system, just that it's a mutation of our nature manipulation.
"Thanks, Dad, I will. Erm, also, I just wanted to let you know that I think my nature manipulation mutated."
"What, are you okay?"
"Yeah, yeah, it's nothing to worry about; if anything, it's amazing but quite tricky to work with and will probably end up eating a lot of materials."
A few moments later, after explaining to him about the process of making a mystic fruit, the powers they can have and the first one that I made.
"So yeah, that's pretty much it. I also have a gut feeling that 2 of the same fruit can't be eaten in the same world, but if I went to another one, then it would be fine."
"Honestly Souta, that's a lot to take in. It sounds unbelievable, but I know you, and you wouldn't make any of this up. You're going to have to keep quiet about this ability of yours; if any of the other supernatural factions hear about this, they'll do anything to get to you so they can have you making those fruits whenever they want them."
After letting out a tired sigh, he continues.
"So, what do you want to do going forward? You already know I'll support you as best I can, and I know you've already decided on exploring new worlds, so I won't say not to get into any danger since I know places like that come with their own risks, but just be safe and come back to me, ok, son?"
"I will, Dad, don't worry. As for what I want to do, well, first I'll finish cleaning up the store, and then I'll prepare an emergency backpack for the first world hop. Do you think you could exchange some money into gold, please, since I am unsure what currency will be used? Also, what are your thoughts on Lady Yasaka? Do you think you could trust her?"
"Yeah, of course, don't worry about it. I'll have some money converted to about 2 ounces of gold; that should be enough wherever you go. Also, Lady Yasaka, hmm, she's a great leader; she looks out for her people by providing them with homes, food and work, and in turn, they respect her rules and look out for each other. It's very different compared to the East Yokai Faction, who respect strength above all else."
"I see. I was thinking of setting up a partnership with her by trading some mystic fruits for raw materials and goods as well as some items I pick up in other worlds. What do you think?"
After mulling over it for a minute, he finally responds, "I think it would be a good idea; a partnership would gain you the protection of her faction by trading with your mystic fruits, but I wouldn't trade or let her know about any of the other items you pick up until you trust her enough to let her know where you've been getting them from."
"Ok, great. Do you think you could set up a meeting?"
"Yeah, no worries. I'll be home tomorrow, as we closed the deal with the tech company a day early, so I'll see about getting a meeting set up for Friday, and then we'll go together."
"That's great news, and thanks, Dad. Love you."
"Love you too, son. I'll see you tomorrow."
After hanging up, I spend the rest of the night searching online for things to buy for the store as well as some materials to make more mystic fruits.