In Kaguya's view—
If, say,
we were to sort people the way Onmyoji (the mobile game) does,
then!
Saeko's talent would probably be SP-grade.
Rika and Shizuka, that best-friend duo, would both be solid SSRs.
Which is kind of absurd.
The three women brought back from the Apocalypse world—if the "worst" of them still has the potential to grow into a great yokai someday?
Sure, having potential and actually growing are two different things; a genius who never blooms isn't a genius.
But… isn't this a little too outrageous?
"Heh heh…" Ren chuckled. "Kaguya, think it through and it makes sense. In the Apocalypse world, more than 99.99% of people turned into zombies. Of the tiny fraction that didn't? You can bet they're blessed outliers. What held them back was the world itself."
"For people like them, brushing against the occult and then showing shocking talent isn't strange at all."
Kaguya thought it over and found it reasonable. In a world drowning in zombies, anyone who didn't turn must practically be a "protagonist."
Exceptional talent comes with the territory.
The runaway princess of the Lunar Capital brightened at the thought.
What was that?
Her father would have a future corps of elite lieutenants stacked to the sky—and with her ridiculous father on top of that—storming the Lunar Capital one day, waging a war on the moon, capturing the Lunar Capital's "dear father"… the odds suddenly looked pretty good.
Ren could only shake his head in amusement. Watching his daughter's smile, he didn't even need to guess what she was picturing.
No doubt some classic "overthrow-your-betters" and "march-on-the-capital" playbook again.
After a bit of small talk,
Ren, Machiyoi, Kaguya, and Saeko
had lunch, then went about their business.
There was just no helping it.
Machiyoi was a bona fide great yokai who'd come up the rough way; teaching isn't her forte. And really, asking a yokai to teach humans how to cultivate spiritual power?
That's… a comedy sketch waiting to happen.
As for Kaguya?
Also not happening—teaching isn't her thing.
Ren?
Heh.
Ren was even more off-the-charts—he'd basically muscled his way up on the back of his broken "traits" and a "work hard to get stronger" sort of gift.
So, nothing to be done.
Just wait.
Luckily,
Eirin was coming tonight. As the "Eightfold-Thought Deity," she was flawless as a teacher. Training Saeko, Rika, and Shizuka would be using a sledgehammer to crack a nut—she could do it in her sleep.
Night fell.
Hand in hand, father and daughter—Ren and Kaguya—walked into the city's bamboo grove.
Saeko had gone back to rest.
Once Kaguya dispelled her "Eternity and the Instant," the fatigue from last night surged back all at once. She really did need proper sleep.
Ren wasn't the kind of man who couldn't cherish a beauty.
But if Saeko liked the thunder of artillery—heavy guns roaring—what could he do?
He could only fire away.
Moonlight poured down as a streak of light drifted gently from above.
In the next instant,
it felt as though everything had changed—yet also as if nothing had.
[Orange · World-in-a-Jar: Lv1]
Ren's vision swam for a heartbeat.
Then—
he noticed a brand-new trait had appeared, and one eyebrow lifted.
"Father, what's wrong?" Kaguya noticed him pause.
Ren scanned their surroundings. The bamboo shone with a vivid emerald glow; the moonlight overhead unraveled into falling threads of lunar radiance.
"World-in-a-Jar?" Ren murmured.
"Eh?"
Kaguya blinked her dark, lovely eyes. A beat later, realization lit her face.
"So you really are special. I only pulled you into my 'World-in-a-Jar,' and you already grasped the corresponding sorcery?"
A cool, inquisitive voice brushed his ear.
A tall figure stood before them, dressed in something between a nurse's uniform and a Taoist's robes, in purple and red patchwork. Her cap and clothing were embroidered with the constellations—Lyra, Cassiopeia, the Big Dipper, Sagittarius, Andromeda—stars circling the vault of heaven.
Long, elegant legs hid beneath a flowing skirt hemmed with the Eight Trigrams; below it peeked pale ankles and simple cloth shoes.
Silver hair, braided like a rope. Eyes like amber, bright with intellect and hungry to know, fixed on him with probing curiosity.
The Lunar Capital's sage.
The ancient "Eightfold-Thought Deity."
Eirin.
"Eirin."
"Your Highness."
Seeing the composed sage, Kaguya folded her hands before her belly with perfect grace and offered a greeting.
A faint smile softened Eirin's cool, flawless features when her eyes fell on Kaguya.
"Mhm."
Ren didn't bother to hide it; amused, he said, "You just pulled me into 'World-in-a-Jar,' and I did in fact pick up the sorcery that comes with it."
He'd more or less figured out how his traits worked.
What Eirin "handpicked" for him were all skill-type things—like the "ground-shortening step" he'd used before. Not a divine art, but a technique.
Those could be fed into [All-Arts Mastery] as fuel, pushing that mastery even higher.
Whereas this [World-in-a-Jar] was sorcery.
Put simply—
the former is a warrior-type skill; the latter is a mage-type art.
So they wouldn't merge into one.
"In that case…"
Ren narrowed his eyes, thinking, "If I study sorcery and push it to Max Level, can I likewise fuse out a sorcery-type, consolidated growth trait?"
(End of Chapter)
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