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It had already been a month, so Jasper decided to activate another one of his abilities.
This time, his consciousness traveled to another world.
He found himself inside a palace. Deep within, there stood an ornate stone pillar, and sitting on top of it was a book.
Curious, Jasper walked over—and to his surprise, the book looked really familiar. It was the same one Xiaoyu used before. If he remembered correctly, Xiaoyu once imprinted a demon's form onto herself using this book, gaining demonic powers and eventually becoming the Demon Queen.
Jasper flipped the book open out of curiosity.
On the first page was a spell—one that called upon the darkness within oneself. Yeah, definitely black magic.
Jasper started reading carefully.
Could he really learn some powerful magic from this?
According to the book, calling forth the darkness in your heart could awaken a Shadow Army. That definitely caught Jasper's attention.
To summon this darkness, though, you needed to draw a magic circle using blood. Well, that wasn't too big a deal.
"Who's there!?"
Just then, a red-faced demon walked in. Jasper instantly felt a heavy pressure in the air—it was Tara, the leader of the Shadows. This guy was seriously powerful.
Jasper was surprised his consciousness alone had been noticed. Tara's strength was on a whole different level.
Still, he managed to memorize the method to summon the Shadow Army.
Little by little, Jasper's consciousness began to leave this world. But since he still had a bit of time left, he figured—why not visit one more?
He could push through a little longer.
A few minutes later, Jasper appeared in a wooden attic.
A woman with long purple braids was swinging a blade around.
The moment he appeared, she turned her blade on him.
"What business do you have here, outsider?" she asked. Her clear, sharp eyes reflected Jasper's image perfectly.
Jasper was stunned for a second. Tilting his head, he asked, "Wait… you can see me? Also, are you the Raiden Shogun, or just Ei?"
He recognized this woman—famous for her deadly moves and that sweet combo of power and grace. He used to really like her.
"I can see you. I'm the Raiden Shogun. What do you want?" she asked.
The Raiden Shogun was a puppet made by the Thunder God Ei. Her strength was identical to her creator's, and she could even think on her own. The level of tech behind that blew Jasper's mind—but hey, she was a god, after all.
Jasper looked straight at her and said, "I want to learn how to fight."
She looked him over. If this outsider wanted to learn how to fight, well, maybe she'd train him a little.
After all, she trained every single day—it'd be nice to have someone to spar with for a change.
Of course, if this outsider showed even a hint of funny business, she wouldn't hesitate to cut him down.
"Fighting is the best form of training," she said.
Jasper totally agreed.
He picked up a wooden sword nearby and charged at the Raiden Shogun.
She didn't move back. Instead, she raised her own wooden sword and swung at him.
In an instant, Jasper felt like he was getting crushed by her terrifying aura.
Gritting his teeth, he swung his own sword.
Smack!
Her sword shattered Jasper's in half and sent him flying.
She looked at him and said coldly, "You have no idea how to fight."
Jasper clutched his chest. Even though he was just there in spirit, he could still feel the pain. That was unexpected.
Wait… if his consciousness was destroyed in these other worlds, would that actually kill him?
Yeah, he was definitely gonna play things safer from now on.
"Again," the Raiden Shogun said.
So Jasper kept getting beat up. But at least she gave him some pointers here and there on what to do.
Getting trained by the Raiden Shogun was a rare opportunity—he knew it.
She had pushed martial arts to their absolute peak.
Jasper threw himself into the training, totally focused.
Time passed.
"Ow—damn it!" Jasper suddenly bolted upright in bed. The wounds from training with the Shogun had followed him back here too.
And man, they hurt like hell.
He turned on the light and checked himself—his whole body was covered in bruises.
Touching them made his skin sting.
He sat up for a bit, then lay back down. As long as he didn't move too much, it wasn't too bad.
Morning.
When Jasper woke up, the bruises were completely gone.
His healing rate was crazy.
He splashed water on his face and headed out for a morning run.
While jogging, he kept thinking back on everything the Raiden Shogun had taught him.
Since it was Saturday, Jasper planned to enjoy the day.
As for awakening the Shadow Army's power—he'd save that for tomorrow. First, he needed to buy some blood.
He jogged for a while, then ran into Kobayashi Mari and Rick.
They were holding hands, strolling together—it looked like they were dating. And judging by the time and direction… were they coming out of a hotel?
Jasper glanced their way but quickly looked away. He honestly didn't care what they were doing.
Still, Rick and Mari noticed him.
"You're up early," Mari said.
Rick didn't say anything. He just gave Jasper a hateful look.
"Yep," Jasper replied casually as he jogged off.
"…You know him?" Rick finally asked. He'd spent a ton of money on this date with Mari, and yesterday Jasper had almost ruined the whole thing.
Mari nodded, "He's my neighbor."
Rick's face twitched slightly. He didn't want Mari knowing how Jasper had humiliated him, so he tested the waters: "Has he ever mentioned me?"
Mari tilted her head, thinking. "That guy's kind of a loner. We're not really close. He's never talked to me about you."
Rick let out a sigh of relief. "Wanna go somewhere else now?" he asked.
Mari looked at him. "Where do you like to go?"
Rick thought for a second. "The beach?"
Mari nodded. "Alright then, let's go to the beach."
While jogging, Jasper came across a white guy threatening an Asian man with a knife.
The guy didn't look Japanese or Korean—probably Chinese.
Jasper walked up to them and said, "Hey man, what you're doing is a crime. If you stop now, we can pretend this never happened."
The white guy glared at him, then sneered, "I can't stand you Asians. Get on your kne—?"
"Idiot." Jasper didn't even let him finish. He snatched the knife and beat the crap out of him.
Looking at the bruised and swollen punk on the ground, Jasper snapped, "You're pissing me off. Get lost!"
The Asian man thanked Jasper in Chinese.
Jasper warned him to be more careful—this wasn't their home country.
"....."