WebNovels

Chapter 3 - Chapter 3: Accidental Enlightenment

Dio took a deep breath as he made his way down the stairs, ignoring the suddenly far more intense looks he was getting as he walked down the halls. Girls whispered and blushed at the sight of him, while men stared in jealousy and awe.

He ignored everyone and made his way to Classroom 2-B, pressing his terminal against the door and accessing his private room. He pushed it open, sighing in relief as he made his way inside.

The room looked like an ordinary classroom, with chairs and tables stacked around us. Red cloth was draped over everything, and a set of tables were pushed together to make an impromptu bed with red sheets... Luckily, he did at least have a mattress for some decent sleeping.

... There was only one mattress though.

He noticed the symbol of the Oda Clan on the wall as well- no doubt Nobu's little mark on this now being her domain.

"Good, they set it up just like I asked," Nobu materialised beside me with a grin. "I hope you don't mind me taking control, Master."

Dio waved it off. "Just call me Dio, Nobu. And I don't mind at all- as long as there's a bed and shade, I'll take anything I can get."

"It's always nice to have a reasonable Master," she nodded, flopping onto the bed while he took a seat on a chair.

"Not that reasonable, believe me," he snorted softly, leaning back in his chair and enjoying the silence for the moment... And then, finally, decided to address the elephant in the room.

Or rather, the elephant in his head.

[Supernatural Power Detected. Requirements fulfilled. Welcome to the Multiverse Chatroom.]

It was still there, unmoved... He tried to scan it using what little Spiritron Hacking he could- but nothing. It was like the panel in front of him didn't exist at all.

That confirmed it for him- this was real. A real multiverse chatroom, like he'd read about in countless fanfiction stories before.

And if that was real... Then that Billionfold Return- it really did make him more handsome because it detected a charm increase...

For a moment, Dio couldn't help but feel overwhelmed. He had risked everything to get to this point for eleven years with no cheats. And now, suddenly, he had not one but two cheats after qualifying for the Holy Grail War?

It didn't make him happy; it angered him.

Why? Why did it take so damn long? All the suffering, all the people he'd killed, the losses he'd suffered. Why couldn't this cheat have arrived sooner?

Dio realised he was starting to get emotional, and he closed his eyes, entering a basic meditative state.

In... Two... Three... Four...

Out... Two... Three... Four...

[Meditation detected. Billionfold Return Activated.]

Anger faded away.

Sorrow drowned into nothingness.

All despair and negativity within his body dissipated as if it didn't exist.

He became calm and serene... All at once, he felt as though he could finally see. See the purpose of everything. See the light within the deepest darkness. He could see the cycle of the world, the purpose of life. He was one with all of creation.

His eyes suddenly snapped open, and he saw Nobu staring at him intensely.

"You're... A Buddha?" Nobu spoke slowly as she stared at him, a little surprise and even awe on her face. "I wasn't aware that you were so enlightened, even I'm in awe of you right now, Dio. It takes a lot to impress me."

"I..." Dio didn't know how to respond, shaking his head. He forced himself to leave that state of pure peace, pure enlightenment, and returned back to the mortal realm again.

He had... Reached enlightenment?

Just by calming himself down, he'd somehow momentarily abandoned all earthly attachments and transcended into the status of Buddha.

He could feel it in the back of his mind- he could return to that state of enlightenment whenever he so desired. He could become a Buddha whenever he pleased just by willing it.

'Too Powerful!' He thought to himself. This Billionfold Return was just too powerful!

Just doing a basic meditation turned him into a Buddha! Just flustering Rin Tohsaka a small bit- apparently- had supposedly made him handsome enough that people couldn't take their eyes off of him.

"That... Is probably something we should talk about," he told Nobu finally. "I... Literally just, as in a few minutes ago, awoke a... Supernatural ability called Billionfold Return. Every time I do something; I get the experience of what I did times one billion."

Nobu blinked. "... I did notice you seemed to be frustrated for a moment before you closed your eyes..." She murmured. "Are you saying that you just meditated for a few moments to calm down and suddenly became a Buddha?"

"... That is exactly what I am saying, yes."

She stared. And then she laughed. "Hahaha! How perfect! No, wonderful! Who knew humans of this era could still be hiding such interesting things!?" She grinned. "You've suddenly become much more attractive to me, Dio- and not just because you're handsome."

"Are you... Flirting with me?" Dio asked her.

She just chuckled. "Perhaps a little," she grinned at him. "But we can save the flirting for later, who's our first opponent in the war, Master?"

Dio grabbed his terminal and pulled it out, pressing down on it. A hologram manifested over the top of the screen, revealing the data interface.

"Ohh~" Nobu stared at the hologram with excitement, fascinated by the new technology- even if the Moon Cell had provided relevant information to her, it was still fun to see it in person.

"Found it," he told her. "Our first opponent... Shinji Matou..." His nose wrinkled. "Ugh, him."

"You know him?" Nobu asked.

"He's a popular gamer," Dio explained. "The gaming champion of Asia who won the World Gaming Competition for V.A.M.P this year... In truth, he's an eight-year-old kid who's obsessed with gaming. He probably doesn't even realise that if he loses the Holy Grail War, he'll actually die."

Nobu scoffed. "Fool. I was about to commend his courage for joining but it turns out he's just an idiot... It does put a sour feeling in my mouth to have to kill a child, but I will do what I must in order to achieve victory."

"For now, just relax," Dio stretched. "We'll go down into the Labyrinth for the Cipher Key later, sound good?"

"Can I borrow your terminal to watch some movies?" She asked in response.

Dio just tossed it over to her, the Archer greedily catching it and starting to scroll through her options.

He took a deep breath, his mind now clear and calm, before he mentally accepted the Chatroom request.

[Billionfold Buddha has joined the chat.]

He nearly choked at the sight of the username he'd been given by the chatroom. He'd been a Buddha for less than five minutes, what the fuck chatroom!?

He shook his head and instead focused on the chatroom.

[Subterra Gal: Oh my gosh, we have another newcomer! Welcome!~ <3 The announcement of the Chat and its functions are pinned, so just check it out!]

[Daughter of Darkness: A new member, is it? Welcome, I suppose.]

[Mecha Supremacy: Welcome... A Buddha, is it? I wasn't expecting a Buddha to join this chatroom.]

[Gambling Addict: Welcome~ A Buddha? How interesting, I've never met a Buddha before~]

... From the names, he couldn't immediately tell who any of them were- though he may not know any of them. Still, since he'd joined the chatroom, he'd be polite.

[Billionfold Buddha: Ah, hello... Just a moment, I'll read the pinned announcement.]

He opened the pins tabbed and checked, reading about it...

As expected, it was a Multiverse chatroom. They could get quests to go to other worlds and obtain points. These points could then be used to buy things from the shop. The only caveat was that things could only be bought from the shop if 1) they were given a System reward, then that reward would automatically be added to the shop. And 2) If someone uploaded something to the shop.

In the case that someone uploaded something to the shop, then they would receive points equivalent to the price of what they uploaded. Uploading something to the shop wouldn't cause them to lose their ability, it would duplicate the ability and allow others to purchase it should they have the points.

The only other thing they could buy from the shop were 'Travel Tickets' which cost a thousand points, allowing people a ticket allowing for a one time transfer to and back from a world.

He also quickly found the settings tab and changed his name from 'Billionfold Buddha' to 'Dio.' He didn't need people calling him Buddha, it felt embarrassing.

Then, he decided to check out the store and immediately noticed a few things already present in the store- particularly, he noticed that some Bakugan and various cards related to them were present.

Subterra Gal... Julie Heyward from Bakugan Battle Brawlers? Damn if that wasn't a blast from his past, he hadn't even thought about Bakugan in a long time...

He shook his head and decided to check his upload options to see what he could get for his skills...

Dio swore he stopped breathing as he read his options.

Billionfold Return - 999,999,999,999,999,999

Buddha Enlightenment - 10,000,000,000

Beauty of Mortals - 5,000,000

This... This was just too much, wasn't it?

He knew, immediately, that there was no way he was uploading Billionfold Return. If his previous experiences hadn't told him how powerful it was, then even the System realised just how absolutely powerful Billionfold Return was... He didn't think anything could compare to Billionfold Return in sheer terms of price and ability.

And such power? It was the one thing he was going to hoard for himself.

So, instead...

[Billionfold Buddha has changed their username to Dio!]

[Dio has uploaded Beauty of Mortals and obtained 5,000,000 points!]

[Dio has uploaded Buddha Enlightenment and obtained 10,000,000,000 points!]

[Subterra Gal: !]

[Mecha Supremacy: !]

[Gambling Addict: !]

[Daughter of Darkness: So many points... Give me a moment, I need to read just what these skills do for myself.]

[Subterra Gal: I am there, girl!]

Dio was also curious and decided to open up the skill descriptions for himself.

Buddha Enlightenment

The mindset of one who has traversed through the cycle and understood all- attaining enlightenment.

Effects

Perfect Emotional Control

Understanding and sympathising with all things in the universe.

One with nature and the cycle- able to perceive beyond both.

Aura of the Buddha - All who see instinctively know they are one who has ascended beyond mortal understanding. People are calmer and more willing to listen in your presence.

Spiritual Immortality – Your soul will endure forever, even should your body crumble and fade. The flesh is momentary, but Buddha is forever.

Beauty of Mortals

Imperfectly perfect, mortals are flawed but they are beautiful because of their flaws.

Effects

Peak of Mortal Beauty – You will always be the peak of mortal beauty, always lingering in the minds of those who see you.

Able to speak fluently and concisely regardless of situation.

Beautiful Charisma - Those who see and hear your voice are inspired and empowered should that be your intention. Those against you are demoralised.

Charm Aura – People of the opposite sex are more easily attracted to you, and you more easily draw admiration from those of the same sex.

He grimaced, not really feeling comfortable with Charm Aura. It felt like borderline rape to him... He comforted himself by telling himself that it only nurtured emotions that were already there rather than forcing them to feel for him even if they shouldn't.

However, he understood now why Buddha Enlightenment was worth so much. Spiritual Immortality was the one that made him feel the safest... Even if the Moon Cell tried to erase him, it should fail to do so because now his soul was immortal- it couldn't erase him anymore.

[Daughter of Darkness: Those skills are... Extremely powerful- who knew beauty could be so excessively strong?]

[Mecha Supremacy: So, that's why Buddha are so worshipped... Not only becoming one with Nature, but even able to perceive beyond the cycle and understand all things in the Universe- truly powerful. Spiritual Immortality... Preserving the Soul no matter the damage, how terrifyingly powerful.]

[Gambling Addict: How interesting! Excuse me, Buddha-kun, do you like gambling?]

Dio couldn't help but sweat drop... This girl really just asked someone she believed was a Buddha if he liked gambling?

[Dio: Firstly, there's no need to call me Buddha or anything like that. I only recently became a Buddha, and I'm still very young. Just call me by my name- Dio. Dio Vincenzo. Second, it depends on your definition of gambling... I think you mean wagering something in order to obtain something else via a game, yes? In that case, I've never gambled before.]

[Gambling Addict: Oh, that's such a shame, Dio-kun! We should gamble sometime!]

[Subterra Gal: No, don't! Yumeko, no corrupting the literal Buddha who just joined the group, come on girl!]

[Gambling Addict: Tee-hee! Sorry, Julie~]

Yumeko... Yumeko Jabami, from Kakegurui, perhaps? That would certainly explain the name...

Dio restrained a sigh as he rubbed the sides of his head, ignoring the happily humming Nobu watching movies. He had a feeling his group chat was going to cause a lot of headaches in the future.

Suddenly, his Terminal beeped- causing both him and Nobu to look at it.

[Primary Cipher Key has been generated.]

The both of them stood up, and he caught the Terminal as Nobu tossed it back over to him.

[Dio: Sorry, I have to go. Something very important just came up.]

"Let's go," his eyes hardened. "To the Labyrinth."

***

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