Chapter 257: Sudden Realization and SSS Rank
It seemed the previous person in charge never told anyone about Gasper.
Perhaps he planned to take Gasper away once it was safe, to control that power for himself or hand it over to a new faction he had joined in exchange for rewards.
After hearing this, Gasper was stunned for a while. Once he understood, he breathed a sigh of relief.
Luckily, thanks to Haruto, he had stepped out of his home early.
Otherwise, if he had waited until after graduating from university to suddenly approach the Gremory family to pledge his loyalty, only for the Gremory family to claim they had no idea who he was... he would have been mortified on the spot.
After the discussion, the truth came to light. Rias immediately established a new relationship with Gasper and, respecting his personal wishes, kept his gender listed as female in the records.
As for how long this could be kept a secret, that would depend on fate.
Haruto didn't want the girls to mistake Gasper for a girl and end up taking advantage of him.
He would inform not only Akeno and others but also all the girls at Kuoh Academy who were involved with him.
Gasper pouted, wanting to say that this was no different from exposing his true gender.
But when he saw that handsome face and remembered the physical examination from the previous evening, his slender body trembled, and he ultimately didn't dare say anything.
In all his life, it was the first time he had been forcibly stripped for a physical examination. Especially when Haruto stared at his crotch with an interested expression—just thinking about it now filled him with terror.
Seeing the trembling blond cross-dressing boy, Haruto instinctively felt that Gasper had misunderstood something.
But no matter how hard he thought, he couldn't figure out that it was about sexual orientation. He was genuinely just reminiscing about his childhood days of playing "monkey steals the peach" and "flicking the little bird"...
"Haruto, I want to make Gasper my servant."
After helping Gasper with the paperwork and class transfer arrangements, Rias sent a communication request to Haruto through the soul network.
Haruto wasn't surprised at all—this was exactly like Rias's character.
The blonde cross-dressing boy had suffered a tragic childhood, and even without considering his potential, her rich emotions would drive her to make the same decision.
As for whether there was any influence from worldline convergence...
From the moment Rias asked Haruto, it wasn't that important anymore.
If Rias hadn't consulted him but directly discussed the matter of servants with Gasper, he might have felt somewhat displeased and even tried to dissuade her.
But now, Haruto actually approved.
"Sure, Pre... Rias, just follow your own thoughts. You are our club president, master, and elder sister."
The moment he gave his reply through the soul network, Haruto felt an immense sense of relief.
There's a saying: "A thief may spend a thousand days planning, but no one can stay vigilant for a thousand days."
Even if he didn't trust himself, he had to trust Rias and the others.
They were all exceptional women. Although demon society was open-minded, once they had chosen Haruto, they would never betray him.
If some fool dared to overstep, he wouldn't even need to lift a finger—Rias and the others would handle it themselves.
The lingering worries that had been buried deep in his heart suddenly dissipated. With his mind clear, Haruto felt his magical energy circulating faster, and even the long-dormant qi within him became active.
Just then, a gentle breeze appeared in the clubroom. Slowly, the breeze grew stronger, centered around Haruto, until it transformed into a small tornado.
"This is..."
Before Haruto could react, Rias beside him exclaimed in surprise, "Congratulations, Haruto. You're about to become an SSS-Class powerhouse."
"So this is SSS-Class..."
As the small tornado continuously drew the pure energy from the air into Haruto's body, he finally clearly felt the changes in his strength.
His martial arts, which had been stuck at S-Class, finally broke through to a new realm, guided by the successive breakthroughs in his magical energy.
The qi that had been flowing through his body alongside his magical energy first transformed into a milky-white liquid, then solidified, and finally formed a milky-white pill the size of his pinky finger in his dantian.
Though all the qi that had filled his body condensed into such a small thing, Haruto keenly sensed that his martial arts prowess had grown by more than just a notch.
Looking at the milky-white pill, he instinctively thought of the so-called golden elixir, but aside from both being spherical, they seemed to have nothing in common.
His martial arts had finally taken that crucial step, but how to progress further would still require gradual exploration.
The breakthrough in martial arts was just a minor surprise—the real highlight was yet to come.
The deep blue magical energy, accumulated to its peak, shattered its constraints under this sudden enlightenment, more than doubling in both quantity and quality.
The surging sense of power made Haruto eager to test his skills against someone right away. The sudden surge in strength gave him the illusion of being invincible.
Fortunately, he quickly restrained this feeling. Having personally experienced Sirzechs's might, he knew clearly that he still had a long way to go before becoming truly invincible.
SSS-Class strength was second only to the Satan-Class. With deities not making appearances, aside from the leaders of the three major factions, Haruto was now the strongest.
Though he had just broken through, he didn't think anyone at his level could match him.
Not to mention, he still had the Red Dragon Emperor's Gauntlet.
After his strength increased, his mastery of the Sacred Gear also reached a higher level.
Since it wasn't soul-bound, he was still a bit short of achieving Balance Breaker, but hope was already in sight.
Name: Haruto Seishu
Talents:
[Fallen Angel Bloodline]
[Devil Bloodline]
[Power of Destruction]
[Thunder Judgment]
[Mirror Alice]
[Combat Intuition]
[Body-Drawn Divine Insight]
[Weapon Apprentice]
...
Skills:
[Mana Purification]
[Martial Arts Mastery]
[Dust-Sized Space]
[Sketching (Intermediate)]
...
Weapon: Red Dragon Emperor's Gauntlet
Comprehensive Evaluation: SSS
As Haruto acquired more and more talents and mastered more skills, it became increasingly difficult to obtain new talents and skills from his dual cultivation partners.
As for improvements in magic power, physique, and spirit, the status panel didn't display them—he could only rely on his intuition.
Haruto opened his status panel after a long time and noticed that, after so long, a new talent had finally appeared.
[Weapon Apprentice]: Proficient in the basic use of various weapons.
This talent wasn't acquired from any particular girl but was formed through a moment of enlightenment, synthesized with the help of many girls.
Previously, after dual cultivation with the twin lolis, Marion, Burent, and other girls, Haruto had gained some ambiguous talents.
These talents weren't substantial enough to form entirely new ones but were distinctly different from talents like Tenacity or Resistance.
Now, the contributions from the girls had finally played a crucial role.
Haruto was quite pleased with the Weapon Apprentice talent. He had never been particularly skilled with weapons.
The swordsmanship talent and skills he acquired from Sakura had become completely marginalized as his strength grew, rendering them irrelevant.
Mastering a weapon required a significant investment of time.
Haruto's talents were all focused on physical combat, which prevented a drastic drop in his strength when unarmed but also limited his options for conveniently boosting his combat power.
However, with this new talent, as long as he had a powerful weapon, Haruto's combat power could instantly reach a new level.
Moreover, this talent wasn't picky about weapon types.
Blades, spears, swords, halberds, axes, dagger-axes, hooks, tridents, whips, maces, hammers, claws, long-handled spears, cudgels, clubs, tonfas, meteor hammers—the eighteen traditional weapons—he could use them all with basic proficiency as soon as he picked them up.
He might not match someone who had specialized in a particular weapon for years, but the Weapon Apprentice talent could be further improved.
As long as he dual cultivated with girls who had talents for specific weapons, accumulating small gains could lead to a qualitative change. It wasn't impossible for Weapon Apprentice to evolve into Weapon Master or even Weapon God.
Closing the status panel, Haruto contentedly calmed the surging magic power within him.
Enlightenment was truly a wonderful thing—no wonder there was talk of innate talent and comprehension.
Though breakthroughs in battle and the traits of a combat specialist were good, when it came down to it, the gains from enlightenment were far greater.
Unfortunately, enlightenment was something that couldn't be sought—it came by chance.
Haruto clearly knew he wasn't the type to rely on comprehension. Throughout his cultivation journey, he had only experienced this once.
He didn't even understand why he had this moment of enlightenment.
He had merely figured some things out through Gasper, yet the rewards were so substantial.
Haruto gazed tenderly at Gasper, who had once again hidden inside a box at some point. The blond trap was truly his lucky star. After completing his rebirth, as a senior, he would make sure to help him properly.
Witnessing Haruto become an SSS-class powerhouse, Rias was equally delighted. She wondered if dual cultivating with him now would allow her to break through as well.
Through continuous research, the group had largely clarified the effects of dual cultivation on breaking through realms.
Apart from bottlenecks during life essence evolution, if there was a one-realm difference in strength between dual cultivation partners, there was a high probability that the weaker one would be carried along to break through.
However, there were two limitations.
First, the individual needed sufficient accumulation to meet the minimum strength requirement for a breakthrough.
This wasn't a major issue, as dual cultivation itself provided this effect.