nChapter 441: Just one more step!

nTranslator: imperfectluck Editor: Kurisu

nThe Juumonji residence was destroyed, with a thick smell of blood permeating through the air. Numerous monsters and demons were devouring the Juumonji Mafia Group members.

nA humongous monster with a bloody mist swirling around it kept continuously eating humans while spitting out bones and skulls.

nZankita wanted to angrily roar and fight when faced with this hellish scene. However, he was filled with a tremendous sense of fear, and his body felt weak as he shivered. He was unable to even crawl up from the ground.

nThe humongous monster devoured a familiar figure as it chewed and then spat something out.

nThe item it spat out landed near Zankita, rolling around several times before stopping.

nThis item was Hisashi's head.

n

"Wahhh!!!

" Zankita shouted loudly and woke up from his nightmare.

n

"Damn it… I actually had such a dream…

"

nHe rubbed his head that felt dizzy as he got up in a haze, intending to drink some water to clear his mind.

nThat's when he suddenly noticed that he was in an unfamiliar room.

nA man in black Sakura Island clothing that he didn't recognize was sitting across from him.

nThis man had short gray-black hair and an unnaturally white face. His nose was high, and his eyes were small. He was smiling and sitting with incredibly proper posture.

n

"Welcome. Pleased to meet you,

" the man greeted Zankita by lowering his head.

"My name is Shoushi Fukuyama. I happen to be a merchant of sorts.

"

nZankita furrowed his eyebrows as he looked at this person.

n

"A merchant… What is this place?

"

n

"This is my store. Please forgive it for being rather simple.

" The man lifted his head.

"The current product that I'm selling is 'How to become stronger.' Would you happen to be interested?

"

nZankita's eyebrows twitched upon hearing this.

n

"It would seem that you are indeed interested. How about negotiating about the price?

" Shoushi indicated for Zankita to sit down with a hand gesture.

n

"…Who exactly are you?

"

n

"As I already mentioned, I'm simply a merchant. I sell products and make trades. Apart from that, I'm nothing at all, and don't know anything else apart from how to make trades.

"

nZankita stared at Shoushi.

nShoushi maintained his smile.

nSeveral seconds later, Zankita walked over and sat down across from Shoushi in a cross-legged position.

n

"I'll kill you if you dare to trick me!

"

n

"Heh heh, there's no need to worry about such a thing. I would never disrespect my customers like that.

" Shoushi chuckled.

"As for 'How to become strong,' I can first tell you some keywords: 'Spirit World.'

"

n

"Spirit World?

" Zankita furrowed his eyebrows.

n

"The Awakened… that is, people like you who have received special powers, can become stronger in Spirit Worlds,

" Shoushi informed him.

"As for how to find a Spirit World, which Spirit World to go to, and how to speedily become stronger… you will need to make certain payments for this information.

"

n

"…What do you want?

"

n

"I want twenty percent of what you obtain in the Spirit World.

"

nZankita fell silent.

n

"Perhaps you don't know what this entails, but it's not important. As long as you visit a Spirit World once, you'll understand that my asking price is reasonable.

" Shoushi chuckled.

"If you still think it's an unreasonable price at that time, speak to me again.

"

nSomething flashed in Zankita's eyes.

n

"If you don't agree, you shall forget about our conversation and never see me again. If you agree, I shall sign a fair contract with you, and you'll be able to meet me again whenever you wish.

"

nShoushi continued to smile as he narrowed his eyes slightly and observed Zankita.

n

"It's our fate to have met here. Fate should be treasured. Please take advantage of this opportunity.

"

nZankita fell silent for a long time.

nThis place seemed wrong to Zankita. Something was off about this man in front of him, and Zankita really hated Shoushi's smile. However…

nThe eldest son of the Juumonji mafia family slowly clenched his fist as he recalled his earlier nightmare.

nOne week passed.

nTelevision programs and people on the internet were still discussing the topic of

"what happened during midnight on New Year's.

" However, everything was quite calm in real life, or at least appeared so on the surface.

nActually, many people's lives changed already. Perhaps there would be many more whose lives would also change in the future due to the midnight spell.

nMika continued learning from her Spiritual Ability teacher, Ruri Kinsa. It seemed that Mika was making progress as a Spirit Controller.

nChiaki got completely accustomed to living as a renter at the Uehara apartments, having plenty of fun. It was now a daily occurrence for Mika to go over to Chiaki's apartment to drag her out of bed in the morning.

nKaho was rather successful in her weight loss, which drew the attention of some girls in class. However, she didn't intend to expand her circle of friends and kept a low profile as usual.

nHoshi and Yukari continued practicing with their own abilities. Both of them mentioned having nightmares about something horrific, which made them feel like something really would happen soon. They were quite anxious.

nReo's elementary school sent out an important message to all parents and guardians, requesting that they accompany their children to school or ask a trustworthy friend to accompany the children. The school didn't mention any specific reason, only saying that public safety was becoming an issue.

nDue to this message, Seiji began taking and picking up Reo to and from school every day. He considered whether or not he should take additional measures.

nSeiji had been unable to visit the Soul World after the first time. He also made no progress in finding any Awakened at Genhana High School. He figured that perhaps there were no more Awakened, or if there were, they were concealing themselves quite well… and if that was the case, there would be no need to warn them to lay low.

nFriday night.

nAccording to Seiji's dating sim system, regarding the Yin-Yang Seal option...

nRead a technique manual detailing how to become a Yin-Yang Master or read other equivalent information. Learn and understand it fully – 100% completed.

nCultivate your Spiritual Power and improve your level – 100% completed.

nCultivate your Mana and improve your level – 100% completed.

nHis Spiritual Power and Mana finally met the requirements by the time that Seiji ate all but two of the silver fruits.

nAfter he fulfilled these three requirements, the newly revealed requirements were:

nLearn beginner level Body-strengthening technique, Astral Vision, Telekinesis, Cleansing, Barriers, Sealing, Summoning, and Healing. Current progress of 91.5%.

nAccept teaching from a beginner-level or above Yin-Yang Master. Learn and understand it fully – current progress of 0%.

nPerform the Yin-Yang Seal ritual in a location that's dense in Mana. Current progress of 0%.

nSeiji energetically clenched his fist upon seeing these new requirements!

nHe really wanted to shout out loudly. That was because there was only one more step!

nAfter learning Beginner-level Barriers, he had already learned Beginner-level Cleansing and Beginner-level Sealing as well. He was currently working on cultivating Beginner-level Summoning.

nAfter he finished learning Summoning, he would fulfill the requirements for the fourth condition. As for the fifth and sixth conditions, he could use the powerful card that Yui's gift of the cell phone gave him, the Yin-Yang Seal activation card to skip these two requirements entirely!

nBasically, the moment that he finished learning Summoning, he would be able to instantly become a Yin-Yang Master.

nThat seemed amazing to him!

nBecoming a Yin-Yang Master meant he would finally be taking that critical step, seeing a new world, and entering a new realm… er, did that description sound too immature?

nNo matter what, it was an important step for him.

nIf it wasn't for the powerful Yin-Yang Seal activation card, perhaps the last two requirements would take him a really long time. They seemed quite time-consuming to him. Since he had this card however, all he had to say was one word:

"Nice!

"

nOnce again, Seiji expressed his inward gratitude towards Yui.

n

"Let's continue practicing Summoning immediately. I'm going to go over to Natsuya's residence's practice field and do my best to finish mastering Summoning by tonight!

"

nHe was all excited as he told Shika and Reo he was going out. He put on his jacket and was about to leave when someone knocked on his door.

nThe visitor was someone that he absolutely didn't welcome.

n

"Good evening, Haruta-san.

" The dark blue haired handsome boy, who was wearing a white windbreaker, smiled in greeting.

"Sorry to bother you after two weeks' time.

"

n