39 [39] Success or Failure?
"Huff—"
Kazuya had already started to breathe according to a specific rhythm!
The knowledge obtained in the dream, known as Ripple Breathing Technique. A way to generate energy through breathing.
This technique could heal wounds, slow down aging, extend lifespan, and increase strength.
The Ripple released had an effect similar to sunlight.
It could enhance various abilities through Ripple, such as creating bubbles, bonding things together, walking on water, and more. It was a useful ability, and unlike the Stone Mask, this power didn't have significant side effects.
The various techniques using Ripple were demonstrated in the manga. It began with Baron Zeppeli's demonstration.
He had a stone and a frog in front of him. He punched the frog, and it remained unharmed, while the stone beneath it cracked.
There was also a technique where bones could be instantly separated and then healed, extending the reach of attacks. Long-range Ripple attacks could be spread on surfaces like walls and water. Ripple could be used to pop open a bottle cap or harden hair to block bullets. Ripple could also prevent water in an upside-down cup from spilling out or increase grip strength. Climbing a smooth, slippery pillar. There were also techniques like Caesar's, where Ripple was propagated within bubbles, forming a foam array and bubbles could be used as shurikens or to reflect sunlight and more...
Of course, the bubbles were not created by Ripple but with special soap that could produce bubbles carried by the user.
However, there were drawbacks.
For example, breathing...
If the breathing became irregular or if one couldn't breathe, then they couldn't utilize the energy of Ripple.
Moreover, Ripple worked better in the presence of living beings like plants, flowers, and human bodies. Its effectiveness decreased on non-living objects like steel. While Ripple could be transmitted through liquids, its effectiveness was significantly reduced in solids!
These were the limitations.
Nevertheless, this was the only technique that Kazuya currently possessed without any side effects—of course, provided that he could use it in reality!
"Sizzle, sizzle—"
"Meow?"
Kohana rubbed her eyes with her paw pads, looking at Kazuya strangely...
She felt like... he was glowing?
Was it her imagination?
Or was there something more to it?
Slowly, her eyes widened—she was certain...
This man—was glowing!
A golden light gradually emanated from his body—
"Meow, meow, meow??" What was happening to this human?
Kohana couldn't understand...
"Huff—"
Kazuya stopped and clenched his fist, feeling the power within him. "That's right! I knew it! I can bring it into reality! The power of Ripple... it's mine!"
This feeling... was truly amazing!
Glancing at Kohana, who was still meowing, Kazuya paid it no mind. He assumed it was just hungry. After all, what could a cat understand?
"Well, time to prepare breakfast."
Don't get carried away, don't get carried away...
Kazuya kept telling himself to calm his pounding heart.
Originally, he had transmigrated and received a system, which was like a pie falling from the sky...
Then, when he got the Stone Mask, he realized that this pie was made of gold—pure satisfaction.
And now, he had discovered even more knowledge, including mystical things like Ripple Breathing Technique, which he could bring into the real world...
Oh, it was incredibly satisfying! This pie was huge!
The future was already bright, but now—he realized that the future was not just bright; it was almost blinding.
It was as if he now held the sun in his hands—
That feeling of being alive made him uncontrollably want to shed tears.
It was so wonderful!
"Huh? Is something wrong, Onii-chan?"
"No, it's nothing." Kazuya waved his hand. Even when it was time for breakfast, he still hadn't fully calmed down. However... he noticed something strange. Since earlier, his family's cat had been staring at him...
He couldn't understand a cat's expression or gaze, but he felt extremely uncomfortable.
"Hey, you..."
After sending his little sister off to school, Kazuya squatted down and looked at his pet cat. "Could you... maybe understand... or rather, do you have intelligence?"
"Meow, meow, meow—"
"Well... you don't seem to act like it. Maybe I'm just overthinking things?"
Kazuya stood up and squinted his eyes. But... he realized that he had treated it as an ordinary cat before, completely disregarding it. However, if it truly had intelligence...
No, it was probably just wishful thinking.
Kazuya scratched his head, walked toward his upstairs studio.
Having obtained the power of Ripple, was he floating now?
Even so, he had to be careful in the future. He had never thought that a cat could possess intelligence.
But now, he was thinking about it. Carefully considering, his family's cat had not undergone any special training, yet it was unusually well-behaved... Was it trained before he arrived?
Of course, the more likely explanation was that he was overthinking things. The cat was just well-behaved, and there was no intelligence involved.
"Meow, meow, meow—"
"Well... you seem pretty crazy."
"Meow (Tsk!)" Kohana gritted her teeth... What could she say? She had already spoken. She said she had intelligence; it's not her fault if you couldn't understand, right?
The two sentences she said earlier were, "That's right, I have intelligence. You finally figured it out." The other one was, "Who are you calling crazy?"
However...
Kazuya couldn't understand cat language.
He didn't possess such an ability, so the message transmission had failed.
Time passed—
Every night, Kazuya entered the dream world, where he used the "years" calculated in the dream to practice Ripple Breathing Technique. Afterward, he faced DIO...
Although, due to his aptitude, his Ripple at that time wasn't much stronger than Jonathan's at the beginning, and it was weaker than Zeppeli's. But this was just a matter of quantity! In terms of technique, he had absorbed much more experience from the manga than they had!
His plan was simple. First, he would practice Ripple, the ability he could use in reality—
Then, when his Ripple training was nearly complete, he would put on the Stone Mask in the dream world and become a vampire. This way, if anything happened in reality and he needed great power, he could immediately put on the mask and unleash the top-tier power of a vampire when Ripple wasn't enough!
However... that being said, he had only faced DIO once. In that battle, he had failed.
Although he had severely wounded DIO, he died first.
He planned to defeat DIO completely next time and then test the power of the Stone Mask. But now—there was something else on his mind.
Kazumi's teacher, was coming for a home visit.
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