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Hong Kong — Kowloon City
Inside a small, quiet antique shop, incense smoke swirled in the air. Redwood shelves displayed all kinds of old collectibles.
The shop owner — a lean, middle-aged man — was sizing up the latest customer.
A young man in a sleek black suit had just walked in. Calm, composed, and sharp-eyed.
"Sir, anything catch your eye?" the shopkeeper asked, rubbing his hands with a welcoming smile.
Jiro's gaze went straight to a bronze tiger statue in the corner of the counter — more specifically, to its eyes.
Embedded in the tiger's eye socket was a talisman — half black, half white.
"How much for this one?" Jiro pointed at the tiger carving.
The shopkeeper's eyes darted around as he put on a troubled expression. "Ah, that's a Tang Dynasty artifact. One of the finest pieces in my collection..."
"Just name your price," Jiro cut him off, not in the mood for small talk.
"Three million! Hong Kong dollars!" The shopkeeper held up three fingers while secretly watching Jiro's reaction.
Without a word, Jiro pulled out a card. "Five million. Let's do the deal now."
He'd spent a little time acquiring that card.
The shopkeeper's pupils shrank, then instantly lit up with joy. "Deal!"
Ten minutes later, Jiro walked out of the store with the tiger carving all nicely packed.
Behind him, he could still hear the shopkeeper failing to hold back a laugh: "Hah! What a payday! I picked up that junk for a hundred thousand at a flea market…"
Jiro just shook his head, saying nothing.
Outskirts – Mountains and Forests
Jiro stood on a flat rocky platform, holding the tiger talisman he'd just taken out.
Black and white energy swirled across its surface, blending together like yin and yang.
"System, what's the rule of this talisman?"
[Ding! Tiger Talisman detected – Rule of Balance. It can harmonize all conflicting energies and grants powers of differentiation and destabilization!]
Jiro didn't hesitate. He activated the Magic Separation Technique.
Buzz!
A surge of interwoven black-and-white energy rushed into his body. He immediately felt a cool, refreshing force coursing through him.
All the different beast talisman energies in his body—the dragon's fury, the rooster's agility, the ox's strength, the rabbit's speed, the pig's destruction—suddenly became perfectly tamed, like rivers flowing into the ocean.
Even more surprising, deep within his cells, all the conflicting forces reached a perfect dynamic balance.
"So that's how it works." Jiro's eyes lit up.
"The tiger talisman doesn't boost power—it regulates it."
With a thought, he raised his hand and aimed at a distant old tree. A black-and-white beam shot out from his palm.
Zzzap!
The tree shuddered violently. Then, unbelievably, it began to split down the middle—one half blooming with life, the other quickly withering into rot.
"Separation," Jiro muttered, eyes gleaming.
He tried again, this time targeting a rock.
The beam enveloped the stone. Cracks instantly appeared all over its surface. Inside, the structure tore itself apart until—boom!—it shattered into dust.
"Imbalance."
[Ding! Tiger Talisman fusion complete!]
[Host has obtained Absolute Energy Balance – immune to energy overload or conflict!]
[New powers unlocked: Moral Split – separates a target into pure good and evil selves. Yin-Yang Collapse – forces internal energy meltdown.]
Jiro clenched his fist, feeling a whole new level of harmony inside him.
Before, adding talisman powers was like stuffing dynamite into a barrel.
Now, the tiger talisman acted like the perfect safety valve.
From now on, he could stack as many powers as he wanted—no more worrying about backlash.
"Alright then, next up… the Dog Talisman."
Jiro's gaze pierced through layers of space, locking onto a spot in Europe.
Inside an old castle, he sensed the dog talisman's energy.
A second later, he vanished.
Northern Europe – Deep in the Scandinavian Mountains
An ancient Gothic castle stood on the edge of a cliff, spires piercing the sky, vines crawling up its weather-worn stone walls.
Jiro stood before a rusted iron gate. His super vision had already seen through the thick stone—right to the hunting dog statue in the castle hall.
The Dog Talisman was lodged between its open fangs.
"Well hidden, I'll give them that."
He pushed open the gate. The rusty hinges screamed in protest.
Inside, the castle was dark and damp, moonlight filtering through stained glass windows in patchy beams.
He had just stepped into the hall when—
Swish!
A black blur dropped from the ceiling, razor claws aiming straight for his throat!
Snap!
Without even looking, Jiro caught the attacker mid-air by the neck and held him up.
It was a pale man with crimson eyes and sharp fangs.
"Vampire, huh? Interesting," Jiro's eyes instantly scanned him.
"Mutated cellular structure. Blood as an energy source. Weaknesses—silver and sunlight. Real textbook."
The vampire thrashed like mad, claws raking at Jiro's arm—but couldn't even scratch him.
"No human is this strong!" the creature snarled.
Jiro didn't bother replying. A small flame flared from his fingertip.
Fsshh!
The vampire instantly turned to ash and scattered on the floor.
"Are you the only one here?" Jiro muttered. His super hearing picked up faint breathing from the cellar.
A dozen vampires were hiding below.
He shook his head. One blast of heat vision tore through the floor—flames filled the basement, ending their undead lives in seconds.
He walked over to the bronze dog statue and took the talisman from its jaws.
A soft green light flowed through his palm, carrying the rule of immortality.
"Begin fusion."
A magic circle spread beneath his feet. The energy from the Dog Talisman streamed into his body like a warm current.
He felt the power seep into every cell. Ancient protective runes shimmered across his DNA strands.
[Ding! Dog Talisman (Immortality) fusion complete!]
[Host has gained conceptual-level immortality.]
[Immune to instant death attacks. Unless erased by a multiversal-level being with a one-hit-kill power, host cannot die.]
[Max curse resistance. Immune to death summons.]
[Massively boosted magic resistance – body can now tank dimension-level spells.]
Jiro raised an eyebrow. "Not true immortality—just nearly impossible to kill."
He made a blade with his fingers and suddenly stabbed toward his heart.
Clang!
A green rune shimmered where his skin should've broken. An invisible barrier stopped him cold.
"Huh. So unless every single cell of mine gets wiped out instantly, I'll just keep regenerating."
Then, he felt something strange—the Dog Talisman's energy was resonating with the Tiger Talisman.
The Balance Rule was optimizing the immortality trait into an even more efficient form!
"Five talismans left."
Jiro looked into the distance again. His super vision swept forward—
Mexico – Deep in the Yucatán Peninsula
In the middle of a dense rainforest stood an ancient Mayan pyramid, its vine-covered stone walls engraved with snake-like carvings.
Jiro hovered above the top, his eyes piercing through stone to a feathered serpent statue coiled around the altar.
The Snake Talisman was embedded in the statue's third eye, glowing faintly green.
"More snakes?" Jiro raised an eyebrow.
Hissss!
A massive serpent, over 30 meters long, burst from the shadows!
Its emerald scales gleamed, golden slit-pupils blazing like fire. Venom dripped from its fangs, hissing and burning holes into the rock below.
Jiro: "…"
"System?"
He calmly asked in his mind, "What the hell is this?"
[Ding! Due to host's involvement, the magical forces of this world have become more active. It's normal for guardian beasts to start appearing.]
"So basically, because I'm here, things are leveling up?"
[That is a correct interpretation.]
Jiro sighed and looked at the snake. "Move. I'm not in the mood for snake soup tonight."
The giant serpent hissed but didn't budge.
Fine.
Jiro's eyes flashed gold.
Buzz!
A wave of telekinesis slammed the snake's head into the stone, shaking the entire altar.
It thrashed wildly, tail smashing pillars left and right—but it was stuck, totally pinned.
"See? Would've saved time if you'd just stayed out of the way." Jiro shook his head and casually walked over to the statue, pried out the Snake Talisman.
The snake let out an angry screech. Jiro glanced at it. "One more move and I'll throw you into the sun."
Instant silence.
The eerie green talisman glowed in his palm as he triggered the fusion.
The moment its energy entered his body, he felt his own presence… fading.
Not just optical invisibility—this was a deeper kind of erasure.
[Ding! Snake Talisman – Presence Erasure – fusion complete!]
[Host has acquired Absolute Stealth.]
[Cannot be detected physically—including infrared, sonar, and all other scans.]
[Presence reduced to zero—people will subconsciously ignore host, even if standing right in front of them.]
[Only higher-dimensional beings (Death, Eternity, cosmic gods, etc.) or powerful magical sensors can detect the host.]
With just a thought, Jiro slipped completely out of the material world.
He walked right up to the giant serpent and noticed that it couldn't sense him at all. It just looked confused, flicking its tongue in and out.
"Not bad for a stealth skill."
He deactivated his invisibility and suddenly appeared right in front of the snake's eyes.
"HISSS?!!" The serpent recoiled in shock, springing several meters into the air.
Jiro ignored it and focused on how his new ability interacted with the other talismans.
The Rooster Talisman's telekinesis let him move objects while staying hidden. The Rabbit Talisman's super speed allowed him to zip around silently. And the Tiger Talisman's balance smoothed out all the energy fluctuations that came with staying invisible.
"Four left to go."
He looked up into the distance. His gaze cut straight through the obstacles and locked onto an antique shop in Japan.
"....."