Chapter 158: With My Heaven-Defying Talent... Deep Blue, Add Points!
Sesshomaru's retreating silhouette vanished beyond the distant ridge just as the sky fully brightened.
The crisp morning light spilled across the rolling hills outside Kaede Village, chasing away the lingering shadows. Insects and birds, silenced throughout the long night by the suffocating weight of the Great Yokai's aura, tentatively resumed their chorus. Small, fragmented chirps echoed from the surrounding woods, welcoming the dawn.
Hikaru stood near the crest of the hill. The demonic mask that usually concealed his features had vanished. Instead, his bare, pale fingers gripped a small, perfectly round black pearl. He tilted it toward the rising sun, his crimson eyes tracing its surface. The bead refracted a deep, abyssal luster, as though a concentrated fragment of the midnight sky had been trapped within its core.
Soft footsteps crunched against the dew-dampened grass, echoing from within the spiritual barrier protecting Kaede Village. Kikyo emerged from the shadow of the towering wooden Torii gate.
She wore her traditional white haori and vibrant red hakama. Her signature longbow remained slung across her back, while a simple white ribbon bound her midnight-black hair. A few stray strands fluttered gently against her cheeks in the morning breeze.
Her pace was noticeably brisker than usual. The oppressive, albeit non-hostile, demonic aura of the Great Yokai had blanketed the region for hours, keeping her nerves pulled taut like a drawn bowstring. Only now, with the suffocating pressure finally fading into the morning mist, did her shoulders visibly drop. A quiet breath slipped past her lips.
She unslung the longbow, her grip loosening as she stepped up beside Hikaru. Her dark, perceptive eyes swept across the empty, wind-swept hillside.
The dog demon brothers were gone.
"They left?" she asked, her voice a soft murmur against the rustling grass.
"They left," Hikaru replied, not looking up from his prize.
"That Great Yokai..."
"Sesshomaru. Toga's eldest son," Hikaru stated dryly. "He didn't come looking for a fight. He just needed my help with a minor errand. Once he got what he wanted, he took off."
Kikyo cast a sidelong glance at him. Her pitch-black eyes held no lingering suspicion or excessive curiosity. She trusted his judgment completely.
Instead, her gaze drifted down to the pitch-black sphere resting in his palm. "What is that?"
"A very good item."
Hikaru twirled the black pearl between his thumb and forefinger. As he did, a distinct, almost boyish expression surfaced on his usually deadpan face. Kikyo had seen that exact look countless times before.
It was the quiet, obvious thrill of acquiring new loot.
He was always like this. Whether it was the Nekomata Claws, Yura of the Hair, the venomous jiao scale, or the cursed demon blade Muramasa—every single time a new artifact fell into his hands, that faint glimmer of absolute satisfaction would break through his stoic exterior. He looked remarkably like a child who had just successfully swiped a jar of premium candy.
Watching him carefully inspect the bead, the corners of Kikyo's mouth twitched. A warm, fond amusement tugged at her lips. She quickly suppressed the smile, maintaining her serene composure. Yet, seeing Hikaru so genuinely pleased sent a quiet ripple of contentment through her own chest.
"Is it another one that can 'talk' to you?" she asked, her tone perfectly level. "You are gathering quite a collection of strange things."
She had made similar remarks before. Many times. Her voice always carried that consistent, cool flatness, devoid of obvious inflection. But Hikaru had long since learned to read the subtle layers beneath her 'cold' shrine maiden persona. Beneath the ice lay a complex pie chart of emotions: twenty percent helplessness, forty percent quiet amusement, and a solid forty percent of unexplainable awkwardness at his bizarre habits.
He didn't offer a lengthy explanation. Instead, he simply closed his fingers around the black pearl and shut his eyes.
He felt it.
Deep within the bead's core, a dormant power lingered. Although Sesshomaru had used it to tear open a rift to the underworld, that single activation hadn't entirely drained the artifact. It had merely slammed shut.
It was exactly like a locked door. The key had been turned, the heavy door had swung open and then closed again, but the lock cylinder remained perfectly intact. As long as someone possessed the right method to turn that key a second time, the door could be forced wide open once more.
Sesshomaru couldn't do it.
This black pearl had been forged by the legendary Hosenki. To reactivate it, one needed either the creator's original demonic energy or an equivalent force capable of perfectly connecting with the residual magic sealed inside. Finding Hosenki to forge a new one was a fool's errand, and perfectly mimicking his unique resonance was virtually impossible for ordinary demons.
To Sesshomaru, the spent pearl was a useless trinket. To any entity incapable of forging a spiritual bond with inanimate objects, it was nothing more than a pretty rock.
But Hikaru was not just anyone.
He had his cheat. He had the system. And most, he had his tried-and-true artifact favorability grinding strategy.
[Black Pearl Agate]
[Quality: Demon Artifact]
[Description: A precious gem forged by the Western Lands Great Yokai, Hosenki. Using a specialized technique, he sealed the exact coordinates of the rift between life and death within this bead. The holder can activate its power to open a gateway to the boundary of the underworld—where the tomb of the Great Yokai Toga resides.]
[Status: It has already been activated once. Its internal power is currently in a dormant state and cannot be reactivated through conventional means.]
[Current Favorability: 0 (Indifferent)]
[Note: It does not know you; it only recognizes the spiritual signature of its creator. However, if you can make it acknowledge and accept you, its dormant power can be awakened once more. It may even grant you the boundary power required to independently open the passage to the underworld.]
It was the exact same starting line as all his other treasures.
Muramasa had started at a stubborn zero before eventually maxing out at one hundred. The Nekomata Claws had started at zero before willingly fusing into his very flesh. Yura of the Hair, the Reverse Scale, the prayer beads—every single one of them had begun at absolute zero, or sometimes even in the negatives.
This black pearl would be no exception.
Hikaru cradled the dark sphere in his palm and began to slowly cycle his demonic energy. Pure, crackling Yao Qi, laced with the volatile bite of lightning from his Ninth Transformation, seeped from his skin.
The bead did not react.
Its smooth, cold surface didn't even register a microscopic ripple.
He expected as much. At zero favorability, an artifact was completely indifferent to its wielder. It was no different from a pebble kicked to the side of a dirt road. You could scream at it until your lungs bled, and it would offer nothing in return.
But so what?
From zero to one. From nothingness to a tangible connection. He had walked this grueling path countless times.
Months ago, he had sat beneath a moon as pale as bone, night after night, stubbornly funneling his energy into Hiraikotsu. In the dead silence of those midnight hours, he had whispered to the withered Nekomata Claws, speaking to dead bone until the day it finally shivered in response.
If there was one thing Hikaru possessed in terrifying abundance, it was patience.
His Yao Qi continued to pour into the pearl in a steady, rhythmic stream.
One breath. Two breaths. Three breaths.
Ten breaths.
Thirty breaths.
One hundred breaths.
The bead remained dead silent.
But Hikaru knew it was listening.
Inanimate objects were fundamentally different from living, breathing creatures. They possessed no subjective consciousness, no capacity for joy or sorrow. Yet, they possessed 'spirituality'. The innate spirit of an object dictated exactly how it received and processed external power.
Muramasa's nature was gluttonous and greedy, demanding constant, bloody feeding to deepen their bond. The Nekomata Claws were icy and aloof, requiring relentless, quiet companionship to slowly melt their frost. Yura of the Hair was erratic and irritable, needing sharp attention and constant stimulation to keep her appeased.
So, what was the fundamental nature of this black pearl?
It was a masterpiece crafted by Hosenki. It was a precision tool, designed and engineered to perform one specific, monumental function. The core 'nature' of such an artifact was absolute stability.
It was rigid, reliable, and fiercely resistant to external interference. To force it to accept a new master, one could not be impatient. Brute force would only shatter it. He had to permeate its defenses drop by microscopic drop, like water slowly carving its way through solid stone.
Hikaru was a master at this game.
He was, after all, a veteran player.
[Black Pearl Agate: Favorability +1]
[Current Favorability: 1 (Awareness)]
And just like that, the ice cracked.
The translucent blue panel flickered to life in his vision.
Just one single point. A seemingly insignificant number.
But that single point meant everything. A sliver of light had finally pierced through the heavy, locked door.
It had noticed him.
Hikaru's fingers closed tightly around the black pearl, a distinct smirk curling the edges of his lips.
Kikyo stood quietly beside him, watching him direct such a deeply satisfied expression at a tiny, pitch-black rock.
"...Happy?" she asked softly. "It's just a bead."
"It is a bead," Hikaru agreed, casually tucking the black pearl into the inner folds of his robes. He patted his chest lightly. "But it is also our future. Yours and mine."
Kikyo's delicate eyebrows shifted a fraction of an inch.
Hikaru didn't bother hiding his intentions. After giving her a brief, pragmatic breakdown of the pearl's mechanics, he looked toward the eastern horizon, where the sun was now fully cresting the hills.
"But there's no rush," he added, his tone shifting back to business. "Let's solve the matter of Muramasa first."
His immediate roadmap was crystal clear. First, Muramasa desperately needed to be reforged, which meant tracking down the eccentric smith, Totosai. Second, he needed to make contact regarding the Nichirin Blade, which conveniently also required following the trail to Totosai. Finally, he needed to acquire Tessaiga, which required grinding the black pearl's favorability until it could reopen the passage to the underworld.
Three distinct questlines converging in two directions. He just needed to grind them out, one methodical step at a time.
Kikyo looked at him. The golden morning light washed over her face, highlighting the elegant curve of her jawline and the straight, proud bridge of her nose. Her long, jet-black hair cascaded down her back, the stark white ribbon creating a striking contrast against the pristine collar of her shrine maiden attire. The sunlight made her pale skin look almost translucent, exceptionally fair and flawless.
"Then let's go back," she said, her voice gentle. "Kaede hasn't had breakfast yet."
The two turned and walked side by side, leaving the grassy hillside behind as they headed back toward Kaede Village.
The morning sun spilled generously over the village entrance, gilding the ancient, weathered wood of the Torii gate in a layer of warm, inviting gold. The shimmering spiritual light of Kikyo's barrier seemed to soften, blending smoothly with the dawn.
As Hikaru passed beneath the shadow of the Torii, his hand instinctively brushed against his chest, feeling the solid weight of the black pearl hidden beneath his clothes.
It still felt cold to the touch.
But deep within his perception, he could feel it. Inside that tiny sphere—connected to the abyssal underworld suspended in the rift between life and death—something ancient and powerful was slowly beginning to stir in its sleep.
The day it fully awakened, the gates to the underworld would tear open once more.
This truly was the key to their future. By taking it step by step, by ruthlessly grinding his strength and evolving his arsenal, he could build an impenetrable wall around the village before him. He could protect their home.
He could finally live the life he wanted.
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