Chapter 282: Silence, Filthy Hag!
Eternally Seventeen: Is Admin-sama around? I assume you've sensed something too — it shouldn't be that difficult, given the constitution you're working with.
Eternally Seventeen: Or are you saying you felt absolutely nothing?
Kaguya-sama: And here we go — the mutual roasting segment has begun.
My True Form Is Cola: Front-row seats! Selling cola, chips, and 2D anime girls!
Kaguya-sama: I'll take a dozen 2D girls, twin-tails specifically — twin-tails are the definitive choice.
Street-Corner Illustrator: Mm… I feel like that comment was somewhat directed at me. Shaking. My personal preferences are completely normal, I assure you!
RawrSoFierce: I did feel something — just couldn't hold onto it before it disappeared. Today's session should produce better results. The Dragon Ball Ki system is genuinely difficult, though it makes sense — you don't get a system that casually destroys stars without a serious barrier to entry.
Kaguya-sama: The people who felt nothing are watching from a place of deeply jealous resentment.
Crazy Diamond: Deeply jealous resentment +1. Why is your talent so much higher than mine?
Master Roshi: You got a flicker after one day… I've apparently wasted several hundred years. Deeply jealous resentment +1 from the old man.
Crazy Diamond: Pfft — Roshi-ojisan, you're a star-busting powerhouse! You can't complain!
Eternally Seventeen: Is star-busting hard? One strike is sufficient for me!
RawrSoFierce: This particular youkai sage appears to have gotten ahead of herself. The Void Beast mission clearly pushed her to a qualitative breakthrough.
Edward Newgate: Gurararara! Old Whitebeard can't quite manage it in one strike, but a few dozen hits, maybe a hundred, and the result would be comparable.
Wandering Little Planet: Sh-shaking. Please don't come near me!
Wandering Little Planet: A small lonely planet huddling in the corner, looking up at the powerful ones with admiring tears.
RawrSoFierce: Wandering Earth, you are a literal planet. Making that sound while being the size of a planet creates a very specific type of dissonance.
Wandering Little Planet: Mm, should I switch to waaah instead?
RawrSoFierce: …
"…"
He remembered Wandering Earth was also attempting Ki cultivation. Whether a sentient planet could manage it was genuinely unknown — there was no precedent. But it seemed to be in good enough spirits, still active in the group chat, which suggested it wasn't in despair over the attempt. Perhaps it had found something, however faint.
If Wandering Earth ever did successfully cultivate Ki, the math got interesting quickly. A planet-scale entity launching a Kamehameha. Jupiter-sized obstacles probably wouldn't survive the encounter.
The mental image was striking.
He was about to step out of the group when Kaguya pinged him.
Kaguya-sama: @RawrSoFierce — Admin-sama, could you open crossing permissions for me and Yukari-nee?
RawrSoFierce: Hmm? Crossing permissions? Did something happen?
Kaguya-sama: Nothing like that! Japan has spring break, and I've basically seen everything there is to see here. I wanted to visit Gensokyo for a bit.
RawrSoFierce: That explains it. @Eternally Seventeen — Yukari, your take?
Eternally Seventeen: Ara ara, Little Kaguya mentioned this to me yesterday — absolutely no issues! With Little Kaguya coming, we'll have four people at the house.
Eternally Seventeen: Myself, Ran, Sakura, and Kaguya — four is exactly right for a hot spring trip~
RawrSoFierce: Understood. Opening permissions for both of you.
RawrSoFierce: …Done. Direct crossing costs 1,000 Points on your end.
Kaguya-sama: Thank you, Admin-sama!! Admin-sama is amazing!! (voice cracking)
Eternally Seventeen: By the way, Admin-sama — would you like to come too? A hot spring visit with three lovely young ladies and one adorable little girl. Nothing worn, naturally~
RawrSoFierce: Silence, you filthy hag! And for the record — Kaguya Shinomiya qualifies as a lovely young lady and Sakura qualifies as an adorable little girl, but you and Ran are on what grounds exactly, given you're both thousands of years old.
Eternally Seventeen: Hmph! I am seventeen this year, the same age as Little Kaguya — does that not qualify me as a lovely young lady? Admin-sama, the thoughts going through your head right now are clearly not appropriate for minors!
Crazy Diamond: BRAKE! BRAKE! BRAKE! The minor in the group has suffered significant psychological impact and may require nutritional support.
Street-Corner Illustrator: Th-thrilling! Very thrilling! nosebleed
My True Form Is Cola: Pfft — the one above is the true enthusiast here!
Street-Corner Illustrator: No! I'm not! That's wrong! It's an illusion! I never said anything!
"…"
Kaguya's spring break Gensokyo trip was a reasonable idea. Nothing in Gensokyo was going to threaten her at this point — with the Post-Void-Beast power upgrade, she was operating comfortably above Marine Admiral tier. One versus two would probably be fine. That standing put her solidly in Gensokyo's upper tier even by the series' own canonical standards.
The lingering concern was Yukari, whose orientation was somewhat ambiguous and whose household atmosphere trended in a particular direction.
Ryū forcibly cut off that line of thinking before it went any further. He was a person of pure and upright character. He was not going to become like a certain youkai sage.
He drank a glass of water and went back into the meditative state.
His target was the flicker from yesterday. If he could catch it again and this time hold it, the entire process of developing genuine Ki sense would accelerate dramatically.
Entry was faster this time. Last session had taken over ten minutes to settle into the right state. This one took a few minutes. The rate of improvement was visible.
The formless sensation appeared again, that quality of something being present without being solid. And in that state, time dissolved — eyes close, eyes open, and a day has passed without it registering.
He thought he might understand something about those ancient cultivators in web novels — the ones ten thousand years old who still had the emotional register of someone in their thirties. When you spent most of your existence in meditative retreat where time moved as imperceptibly as sand through a closed fist, your actual lived experience might amount to a few decades regardless of nominal age. Even the most disciplined practitioner probably surfaced for a day before going back in, leaving a life that was technically ancient but experientially brief.
Oddly appealing, in a way. Come out of retreat after five hundred years, and there's an incomprehensible accumulation of anime, movies, and games waiting — enough to keep any dedicated shut-in occupied indefinitely, assuming they had those tastes.
The flicker reappeared.
This time he didn't hesitate or analyze it. He simply caught it.
A cascade of understanding settled into place. Not full comprehension — a first foundation, an initial orientation, a sense of where Ki actually lived. And then it closed again, like a door swinging briefly open before shutting.
He opened his eyes. A smile.
"One more step. Looks like the balance can stay where it is for now."
Even he hadn't expected to actually have talent for this.
Not Son Goku's instant intuition, but well within reach of a week to establish real Ki sense. The natural aptitude was there.
☆☆☆
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