21 Chapter 21
Meanwhile, in a grand manor nestled in the picturesque city of Kyoto, Muzan sat at the dining table, engrossed in his meal, served by his wife.
Crack !!
But suddenly, a loud crack resonated through the room drawing the attention of everyone. The bowl in his hand shattered, its contents spilling onto the pristine floor.
The display of Muzan's uncontrollable strength was a direct result of his overwhelming emotions, triggered by what he had just witnessed.
Concerned, his wife leaned towards him, her voice filled with apprehension, "What's wrong, my dear? Is the food not to your liking? Have I done something to upset you?"
Muzan, still consumed by his seething hatred, had received the message from Ginryu and was silently observing the unfolding events.
The person he despised the most was alive and well, seemingly unaffected by the passage of time.
In an attempt to conceal his boiling emotions from the guests present in his house, Muzan quickly replied, feigning indifference, "It's nothing, my dear. The bowl must have been cracked."
Aware of the delicate balance he maintained in the human society as an upper-class member, Muzan couldn't afford to let his raging emotions jeopardize his carefully built façade.
Yet, deep down, he knew that he had to find a way to deal with this newfound anguish.
Meanwhile, back on the mountain, Ginryu had regained control of his senses, causing his monstrous transformation to recede.
Glancing around, he found no trace of Genzo, realizing that he had devoured him completely.
Ding! Ding!
The sound of annoying notifications ringing in his mind overwhelmed him, but Ginryu was in no mood to check them.
An attempt to purge the consumed flesh from his body proved futile, as his biokinetic abilities had already assimilated everything.
Fatigued and frustrated with his lack of control, Ginryu pondered his next move.
"Lucia, is there a way to quickly improve my spirit stat?" he asked, seeking guidance from the AI within his mind.
"[The improvement of the spirit stat lies in connecting with one's inner self. This can be achieved through meditation techniques, profound epiphanies, or consumption of spiritual items]," Lucia replied, her voice devoid of any emotional inflection.
Ginryu, upon hearing the options presented, couldn't help but scoff inwardly. 'All of these options sounds like some sort of cultivation bullshit,' he thought to himself, initially dismissing the idea of partaking in such practices.
"[A basic meditation manual will suffice for the current situation]" Lucia added.
Realizing the urgency of his situation, he relented. "Alright, I suppose I can give it a try. I'm relieved that we don't need to embark on some absurd journey to some Cultivation dimension," Ginryu responded, expressing a measure of relief.
With newfound clarity, Ginryu turned his attention to the earlier notifications that had interrupted his thoughts.
As his eyes scanned his updated status screen, his shock was palpable. Consuming Genzo had effectively bolstered all of his stats except for the spirit stat.
A revelation dawned upon him, prompting him to seek confirmation from Lucia. "So, if I consume demons, I can become stronger?" he asked, seeking assurance.
"[Yes, but that only applies because your current base form is a demon...]" Lucia began to explain further, but Ginryu interjected, seeking immediate answers to another puzzling matter.
He couldn't help but notice the way Lucia switched between a mechanical tone of speaking and a more personal form.
"Wait, why do you alternate between different modes of speech? Sometimes referring to me as the 'host,' and other times using my name?" Ginryu queried, perplexed by this inconsistency.
"[The host skipped certain options in the settings]," Lucia replied matter-of-factly, providing a simple but cryptic explanation, leaving Ginryu with more questions than answers.
"Wait, what do you mean by..." Ginryu wanted to ask but stopped himself. He suddenly remembered that during the system settings configuration, he had skipped some parts because he couldn't understand them.
Realizing his mistake, he decided to rectify it. "Ah, I will set them now," Ginryu said, determined to correct his oversight.
"Okay, you can continue explaining now," he added once he was finished.
Lucia, who had been patiently waiting, resumed her explanation.
"[The larger the gap between you and the consumed demon, the lesser the increase in power for you,]" she explained, completing her explanation on Ginryu's stat change.
"I see. You sound a lot better now," Ginryu commented, relieved that he now had a clearer understanding of the situation.
"[Thank you,]" Lucia replied, surprising Ginryu with her grateful response. He hadn't expected such a warm gesture from an Ai.
"Who knew that a few settings could make such a big difference," Ginryu thought to himself, realizing the impact of his actions.
With all that taken care of, he became even more curious about the inside of a demon cave. Without hesitation, he lit up a torch and ventured inside.
As expected, the cave was filled with the stench of rotting corpses and scattered bones. However, what surprised Ginryu were the ancient looking boxes he discovered.
They were filled with gold bars, jewelry, pearls, and various other valuable items.
"I knew Genzo was a greedy person even when he was human, but this is a lot," Ginryu remarked, shocked by his findings.
"Will it even all fit into my inventory?" he pondered.
Ignoring the owners print on the gold bars, Ginryu adopted a "finders keepers" mentality and began filling his inventory with anything he deemed valuable.
Some boxes contained ruined clothing, but the only item he took from them was a cool-looking straw hat.
"Aaarrrg, I am going to be the pirate king," Ginryu quipped, remembering the reference to the popular series in his past life, One Piece.
After collecting everything he considered valuable, Ginryu still had one slot left in his inventory that was only half full.
His inventory functioned differently from typical game inventories. It consisted of ten-dimensional spaces, each one cubic meter in size.
Anything, excluding living things, could be stored within these spaces until they were full. There was no need for sorting or item stacking. Any non-living thing could be mixed together and jammed into the space.
However, there was one thing Ginryu was unsure of – whether there was a time dilation effect on items in his inventory. He turned to Lucia for clarification as he exited the cave.
"Lucia, what is the time dilation factor for my inventory?" Ginryu inquired.
"[The dilation at the current level is 1:1,]" Lucia replied.
Ginryu felt a bit disappointed with the answer. This meant that perishable items could not be stored beyond their natural expiration date.
However, this realization did not bother him considerably since he had stored enough calories in his body to sustain himself without feeling hungry until they were depleted.
Now outside the cave, Ginryu consulted the map and began making his way towards the heart of the mountain.
His intention was to find a place to settle down and commence his training. With his newfound wealth, he had more options and opportunities once he exited the mountain.
...........
Status Screen:
True Name: ?????? ????? ???? Lucian.
Current Name: Kuroki Ginryu.
Current Base Race: Mutated Demon Progenitor.
System Access: Level: 1
True Race: ???
Genetic Alignment: Beast
Age: 557
Condition: Healthy.
Health: 1630/1630
Stamina: 1630/1630
Neutral Energy: 14500/14500
Dimensional energy: 0/???
Calorie Bar: 3.63 M/???
Strength: IV (135)
Constitution: IV (163)
Dexterity: IV (112)
Agility: IV (119)
Neutral Energy: IV (145)
Spirit: III (99)
Racial Skills:
Were-Beast Transformation (Stage One: 12%)+: A skill that enables the user to take the form of any ordinary beasts stored within genome. Higher stages available when certain conditions are fulfilled. (Do note that the hosts transformations is limited to; Mammals, Birds, Reptiles, Amphibians and Fishes)
Form 1: Full Beast Humanoid Combat Transformation.
Form 2: Partial Beast Humanoid Transformation.
Form 3: Full Beast Transformation.
Calorie Storage (Max): Stores excess calories from consumed food into special cells for expenditure.
Bloodline Extraction (Max): By devouring the heart or blood of any beast, extracts their form and abilities.
Bloodline Storage (Max): Store information on various beast forms and abilities within genes.
Bloodline Enhancement (Level: 1)+: ????(Locked).
Enhanced Regeneration (Level: 1)+: By burning a moderate amount of calories or energy, user can heal from any physical wounds.
Abnormal Resistance (Level: 1)+: Enables the user to resist basic grade abnormal conditions.
Selective Bloodline Propagation (Max): This ability enables the user to share some the powers of his bloodline.
By willingly feeding a creature that is both sentient and sapient users blood. User grants one inheritable beast transformation to target based on compatibility.
(Secondary effect: An absolute instinctual hierarchy is created amongst those who are granted power from the users blood based on the potency of blood used to create them.)Warning, changes the race of the target.
Mutated Biokinesis (Level: 1)+: Grant's the user the ability to manipulate all body functions on a microscopic level. Effects extend to beast transformations.
Aura of the Beast-Lord (Level: 1)+: Exude an intangible aura of that intimidates weaker enemies and increases charisma to allies. (Current range 10 meters).
Acquired Skills:
Universal Language (Max): enables the user to understand and use various known languages stored within the system.
Dimensional Travel (Max)+: By expending a certain amount of dimensional energy, user can move to a new world within the system dimensional map.
Dimensional Home (Level: 1)+: A personal living space with various features in a special dimension created by the ??? Clan for members of the clan to live within when traveling between dimensions or are forcefully expelled from a Dimension.
Dimensional Storage (Level: 1)+: Creates a portable dimension around the user to store non-living things.
-10 slots available.
Clan Points Available – 0
Clan Quests: None Available.
......….
A/N: The stats graph.
Stats Graph:
I: 1 - 9
II:10 - 49
III:50 - 99
IV:100-499
V:500 - 999
VI:1000 - 4999
VII:5000 – 9999
VIII: 10000 - 49999
IX:50000 - 99999
X: 100000 - 499999
Note: Higher stat values currently unavailable.
