I'm finally rich! (in SP)

Following the whole debacle with the Vergo fight, and his bounty, Sou finally got the chance to check his gains.

First of all, following the fight with Vergo, Sou was given a notification that he hadn't seen due to being distracted by the completion of his mission.

[Through Host's hard work, Armament Haki (D) has evolved into Armament Haki (C)]

This, in fact, was incredibly useful for Sou. Now that he had Armament Haki (C), Sou was barely able to perform Armament: Hardening. By his estimates, once he leveled up his Armament Haki to B, it would be about the same level of Luffy in the Fishman Island Arc. That is to say, that he would be able to use Armament: Hardening more consistently and in larger parts of his body, and his Armament Haki would be enough to overpower most people. This, in fact, unlocked during his fight with Vergo, which was what allowed him to lop off his arm.

However, this was not the only gain Sou had from the fight. One unexpected gain Sou had was that he was able to remember Vergo. For most people, this would be insignificant, but for Sou, it was incredibly useful due to his ability: Ten Image Defense. Ten Image Defense is an extremely downgraded version of Thousand Image Defense, which Sasaki Kojiro from Record of Ragnarok used.

Thousand Image Defense allowed Kojiro to analyze his opponent's gait, breathing, and even their blinking to form "images" of them inside his mind. Due to this, Kojiro was able to mentally simulates the thousands of attack patterns that they might possess, with Kojiro eventually even being able to analyze the vibrations that travel through the air and ground and not just his opponent.

However, this was not even the main ability of Thousand Image Defense. The main ability of Thousand Image Defense is training. Due to Thousand Image Defense creating an "image" of the opponent, the user is able to face off against these "images" any amount of time, basically simulating real battles in his mind. This cheat-like ability is what caused Sasaki Kojiro from Record of Ragnarok to beat gods.

In Record of Ragnarok, Sasaki Kojiro would face off against many strong opponents above his level and lose. However, due to this ability, he would be able to go back home and train against them numerous times until he completely surpasses them. Of course, the 'offspring' of Thousand Image Defense, Ten Image Defense, also carried this ability.

However, there was one reason why Sou had not used it much yet. To put it simply, he had no real training partners. His only training partners were Rayleigh, who was so far above him that any battle simulation would be a one-shot, making him unable to get any real training, and the servant Sasaki Kojiro, who he could always fight in real life, rather than simulation.

However, after fighting with Vergo, Sou was finally granted a training partner for his Ten Image Defense. He fit all the criteria for a good training partner. Someone he can't normally train against? Check. Someone near his level of power? Check. Someone that could challenge him? Check.

As such, Sou spent a lot of time training against Vergo within his mind. And to put it simply, Vergo wiped the floor with him. While Sou did defeat Vergo, and he would be able to do it again, that was only due to strategy and tactics. During his image training with Vergo, however, with no risk of death, Sou decided to go blow-for-blow, no weapons, and no dodging to increase his Armament Haki. And Vergo destroyed him.

In his original fight with Vergo, Sou was almost completely outmatched in the power department. It was only due to his speed, overall dodging ability, and presence concealment that he was able to come out on top. In a pure fistfight, Sou naturally got pounded. Hard. Not in that way, of course. But anyway, due to this, Sou was able to advance his Armament Haki. Not to the point of ranking up, but he was able to consistently use Hardening, and his Haki provided a good amount of defense. Of course, it was still inferior to Vergo's Haki.

Moving on, Sou's biggest gain was, of course, his mission completion. A few days before Sou actually got his bounty poster, he was given a notification.

[Mission Completed: First Bounty.]

[Requirements: 1. Gain a first bounty above 10 million; 2. Gain a first bounty above 50 million (Optional); 3. Gain a first bounty above 100 million (Optional)]

[Rewards: 1. 25 Summoning Points; 2. 25 Summoning Points; 3. Servant Skill Upgrade Coupon]

[Optional requirements completed]

As soon as he got his rewards, he was given another reward detailing the Servant Skill Upgrade Coupon.

[A coupon that allows the user to rank up an Inherited Skill. Must be used immediately.]

[Choose the skill you would like to upgrade.]

[Vitrification (D); Presence Concealment (D); Knowledge of the Sowa (D)]

Sadly, he was unable to upgrade any other skills such as Ten Image Defense or Complete Mind's Eye. He was hoping to save it for a higher-level skill, but it seemed that he had to use it immediately, disappointingly. Sou didn't know what to choose.

Vitrification would allow him to keep a clearer mind, and make him more resistant to mental attacks. Presence Concealment would help him better hide his presence from higher degrees of Observation Haki. Knowledge of the Sowa would help him a lot in frontal confrontations since it would make his moves much harder to see through.

However, in the end, he had to choose Vitrification. It was the most useful by far. A clear mind would always be the most important, as Haki was shown to be unable to be used without a clear mind. By keeping a clear mind, Sou would always be able to use the fullest extent of his Haki. Second, resistance against mental attacks would likely include Conqueror's Haki. This, coupled with the fact that other mental attacks exist that were shown to be rather effective meant that the mental attack resistance was incredibly useful for Sou. Finally, a clear mind would also help in progressing Haki in general, especially Conqueror's Haki, which requires a firm and strong will.

[Through a Servant Skill Upgrade Coupon, Vitrification (D) has evolved into Vitrification (C)]

Finally clearing that out of the way, Sou finally moved on to his biggest gain. Finally, his Summoning tab had changed. Now, it said:

[Summon (100 SP)]

[Back]

[Current SP: 100]

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A/N: Sorry about not updating for a while. I've been really busy since I have a shit ton of tests coming up. I might not be able to update as much this week either due to the tests. As always, put questions, suggestions, comments, and concerns in the comments. And if you can, please vote with power stones. My story is about one chapter (1000+ words) away from being ranked, so please put power stones.