Kenji sighed, letting his body sink into the cushioned train seat. The gentle rumble of the tracks filled the air, a constant, soothing vibration that resonated through the floor and up into his bones.
The occasional whistle of wind cut past the window, a lonely sound in the vast, open spaces they traversed, as scenery blurred by in a dizzying cascade of green and brown. He lifted his cup, took a slow sip of the surprisingly decent coffee, and stared out the wide pane of glass.
He was on a train bound for Yorknew City.
For the past two weeks, he'd been traveling the Hunter × Hunter world, sightseeing, sampling food, and just… breathing.
He had to admit, this place was beautiful. Breathtakingly beautiful. The landscapes seemed to have been painted onto the world itself, and when you looked at the view, it would always take your breath away.
Towering, jagged mountains that seemed to scrape the sky, their peaks shrouded in clouds, vast, rolling grasslands that stretched to the horizon, a sea of emerald and gold swaying in the breeze, and crystal-clear rivers, so pure he could see the smooth, colorful stones at their beds. Each place he visited felt like a living, breathing painting, a testament to a world untouched by the suffocating gray and concrete of his old one.
He didn't understand how the people of this world could just pass the scenes he was seeing without even a glance. Maybe they had just gotten used to it, or like they had lived their whole lives here, so it wasn't anything special.
Over this journey, Kenji had discovered something new about himself, he really liked nature. The quiet, the open air, the sheer, unburdened expanse of the world seemed to drain the tension right out of him, leaving a sense of peace.
Of course, this world wasn't all untouched wilderness, there were places ravaged by man and time, cities that reeked of crime and chaos. But still, it had a wild, untamed charm that he found deeply appealing. He found himself thinking less about grinding and more about simply existing. He was reconnecting with a part of himself he hadn't known was missing, a quiet appreciation for a world that was both magnificent and terrifyingly real.
The scent of pine in a forest, the chill of a mountain breeze, the soft whisper of a river as it flowed over rocks, these simple sensations were a powerful balm to a mind that had spent too long stressing over these life-or-death situations.
Maybe after this, he'd return to the Naruto world to relax. The thought made him chuckle, a dry, humorless sound. Peaceful? Naruto? Yeah, right. He'd probably have ten minutes of calm before some ambitious shinobi, some bloodthirsty bandit clan, or even a renegade religious fanatic decided they were the next Hashirama or Madara and tried to "change the world." He could just imagine it now, a shadowy figure spouting a messiah complex and launching into a grand monologue about forging a new world order through force and destruction. No thanks.
That was one reason he hadn't taken another mission to that world yet. The sheer Number of fools that existed in that world was not something you could easily count.
He wasn't a hero, just a guy with a system trying to survive and protect his family, and that world had a way of dragging you into its conflicts whether you wanted to be or not.
There, peace was an illusion, a temporary truce before the next conflict erupted. Every day was a gamble, a tense waiting game for the next shoe to drop. It was a world of constant anxiety, and he had had enough of that back home in DxD. The people of that world just seem allergic to peace. A world filled with hypocrisy. Preach about peace when you haven't ever lost someone, and when you do, you just go all god/simp complex, saying you would create a better world, and go around making people feel the same pain you did, and move.
Still… he was stronger now. Low-tier Tier 7—low High-Class by DxD standards, and in Naruto terms, just a step short of Elite Jōnin, a rank that puts him far above most standard ninja.
He could hold his own. But that didn't change the fact that he wanted more. Needed more. The incident with the Yokai, the brief return of Erza, and the sheer terrifying scale of the powers in the DxD world had driven home a simple, irrefutable truth: he was still weak.
Luckily, the mission here had given him six months. And unlike most who had the Multiversal Chat System, his Gamer System worked with it, letting him keep growing stronger even outside missions.
This synergy was his secret advantage. While others were limited by the power systems of their own worlds and missions that only popped up occasionally, he had a reliable, repeatable method for exponential growth. He could follow the time of the Hunter × Hunter world, enter an Instant Dungeon here, and essentially give himself extra grinding time.
The sheer, unfettered freedom of it was exhilarating. He was not on a timer, not bound by a ticking clock. He could exist, train, and learn at his own pace. He was essentially running a long-term, self-directed training arc, all while the outside world went about its business.
And grind he had. Nearly three months in, he'd already gained 30 levels. Slower than back home, sure, especially since he wasn't hyper-focused here, spending his days on sightseeing instead of pure, unadulterated slaughter, but still steady progress. Higher levels meant slower gains, after all.
He was nearing the point where a single level would require a month of pure, dedicated grinding. He wasn't just fighting; he was meticulously planning his battles, using the dungeon's monsters to perfect his techniques and test the limits of his skills. He was pushing himself to his absolute limits, knowing that the only way to get stronger was to continuously test himself against a growing challenge. But he was confident he'd find a way to speed things up. He always did.
Kenji pulled his gaze from the window and opened the book in his lap, an Enchantment magic book he'd bought from Fairy Tail with Erza's help. It was a thick, leather-bound tome filled with complex runes and arcane diagrams, a real piece of magical craftsmanship. He hadn't neglected his other skills, and this one, in particular, felt crucial.
Enchantment fascinated him even before he learned real magic. Runes, seals, crafting, all of it was cheating reality when done right. Myths spoke of Odin drinking from the Well of Mimir to learn cosmic secrets, shaping reality with runes. Enchantment was the same principle, writing code for existence itself. He believed magic wasn't about spells; it was about understanding the fundamental laws of reality and knowing how to bend them to your will. With a skill like Enchantment, a person could literally become a co-author of the universe, imbuing their will into the world itself.
It was absurdly versatile: making wood harder than steel, empowering weapons, cloaking people from sight, altering appearances, manipulating emotions, even changing the land itself. Done right, it could be permanent. Done wrong, it could be catastrophic, turning a simple ward into a magical feedback loop that could kill the user and everyone around them. And Kenji was determined to master it. He didn't just want to be strong, he wanted to be versatile. He wanted to be a one-man army, a walking fortress of defensive and offensive capabilities.
He didn't know how his skill stacked up against top-tier enchanters in DxD, but he wasn't at the bottom of the barrel. Just before starting this quest, he'd laid a ward around his home, a layered barrier to keep out threats if he wasn't there. It wasn't just a simple wall of magic; it was a complex network of protective runes that would repel malicious intent, slow down any physical or magical breaches, and send him an alert if anything or anyone of significant power tried to get through. It wasn't unbreakable, but it would hold long enough to matter. He was a long way from enchanting a whole city or a mountain range like the legendary enchanters of myth, but he was getting there.
That wasn't all. He'd also started golem production, using his system's Territory Management to build a golem factory beneath his home. Materials from his Instant Dungeons fueled the process, slowly building a small but steadily growing army.
One man couldn't do everything alone. He didn't trust the other factions yet, not the Angels, not the Devils, and certainly not the Fallen. He had seen firsthand how easily they could turn on one another, how petty their feuds were. He'd do what Jihan from The Gamer did, become a faction himself. He would build his own private army, an unseen force of magical constructs that would obey his every command and protect his family from any threat, be it supernatural or human. His goal wasn't to lead an army for conquest, but to create a failsafe, a final line of defense. He wouldn't be a king on a board; he'd be the board itself, controlling the pieces and dictating the rules of the game. He would have scouts to watch over his family, guardians to protect them from surprise attacks, and heavy-duty defenders to hold the line if a high-level threat ever made it to his doorstep.
The train's speakers crackled, a voice announcing that Yorknew City was near. Kenji stretched, closing his book and placing it carefully into his inventory. The familiar sensation of the item disappearing into his storage gave him a quiet sense of satisfaction. It was a testament to his unique reality.
The moment he stepped off the train, the shift in atmosphere hit him. It was subtle. The air itself felt thick with lingering fear and a low, simmering tension, like the calm before another storm. The usual hustle and bustle of a major city was there, but it felt forced, a thin veneer over a core of anxiety. People moved with an almost frantic energy, their eyes darting nervously, as if expecting the ground to open up and swallow them whole.
After checking into his hotel, his taxi driver gave him a warning: the city had been dangerous lately, nearly destroyed in a "terrorist attack" a few weeks ago. The streets burned, the old mafia families slaughtered to the last man, gangs fighting for the scraps of territory left behind. The driver spoke in hushed, nervous tones, his knuckles white on the steering wheel, as if talking about it might summon whatever monster had done this. He didn't know much, just the horrifying whispers and the shocking news reports of an entire organized crime family being erased overnight.
That… got Kenji's attention.
By the time he dropped his bags in his room and headed out, the truth was obvious. The city looked like it had survived a war. Buildings blackened with fire, windows shattered, cracked streets, and a lingering, acrid smell of smoke and despair in the air. The police presence was heavy, but they looked overwhelmed, their faces etched with a kind of weary resignation. This wasn't a normal crime wave, this was a complete collapse of order, a power vacuum filled with violence and fear.
And then it clicked.
The Phantom Troupe.
The details fit too perfectly. The timing, the annihilation of the mafia, the sheer destructive power needed to leave a city in this state. He could almost picture it: a brutal, no-holds-barred conflict that tore the city's underbelly to shreds.
If his guess was right, he'd walked straight into the aftermath of their Yorknew attack. Which meant, by the timeline… it should be close to the start of the Greed Island arc. He hadn't cared much about where in the timeline he landed when he picked this world, he just wanted to train. But now…
Now he was curious.
His mind, which had been so focused on quiet grinding and skill progression, was suddenly buzzing with a different kind of energy. The potential for a real challenge, a little chaos, something to break the monotony of leveling up. He was getting a little bored, and a little action was exactly what he needed. His calm demeanor began to crack, a dangerous glint entering his eyes. He wasn't looking for a fight, not really. But he wasn't going to turn one down if it found him. He had a feeling that this "little action" would turn out to be anything but.
Maybe, just maybe, he was in the mood for a little action.
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