Ryota looked down at the scroll in his hand.
It didn't resemble the usual book-style ninja scrolls of the shinobi world, meant to be leafed through. Instead, it felt more like a single-use item.
"It's not meant to be read…"
"More like a triggered knowledge seal?"
He carefully probed it with his chakra, and the next second, the entire scroll seemed to fulfill its purpose and automatically unsealed itself.
With a crisp click, the lock on the scroll gave way, and a cloud of white mist unfurled before Ryota's eyes.
A moment later, countless intricate jutsu structures surged into his mind like a raging torrent.
Not in any form of "reading," but through a direct soul-memory imprint, like being force-fed knowledge.
It was as if an entire forbidden-jutsu research team had crammed decades of experience and breakthroughs into one compressed package and stuffed it straight into his head.
Moments later, a name burned itself into Ryota's consciousness, as though branded there:
Forbidden Jutsu: Reanimation — Advanced Version
Ryota froze.
He'd heard of this thing before; in the shinobi world, it was considered one of the most influential jutsu ever devised, reshaping the entire shinobi power balance.
It forcibly recalled the souls of the dead from the Pure Land and anchored them to a vessel, letting them return to the living world in an "undying" form.
But now, this version the system had provided carried an extra tag — Advanced Version?
"This thing can be upgraded??"
He focused, and the stream of knowledge embedded in his mind projected outward like a phantom screen, unfolding rapidly before him.
Breakdowns of the technique, curse-mark structures, substitute mediums, soul-anchoring patterns… even annotations about improvements over the original Reanimation Jutsu.
As he scanned through it in detail, Ryota's pupils contracted sharply.
The biggest difference in this advanced version wasn't in combat prowess — it was in removing all restrictions!
It no longer required any genetic material left behind by the deceased; it could be constructed purely through chakra.
And once these "reanimated" bodies were completed, they would retain their original abilities and obey Ryota alone, without any risk of being broken or released.
Ryota was utterly stunned.
"This isn't even Reanimation anymore… this is basically molding clay figures!"
He couldn't help but mutter under his breath,
"If I use this jutsu… does that mean I could bring those guys from the shinobi world into the DanMachi world?"
"Holy shit… how is this even a human-level technique?!"
With a flick of intent, the phantom panel flipped to the next page.
One by one, a string of familiar names appeared before him:
[Forbidden Jutsu: Reanimation — Advanced Version]
[Current Chakra: 82,300]
[Constructable]:
None
[Locked]:
Uchiha Madara — required chakra: 1,000,000
Hashirama Senju — required chakra: 1,000,000
Tobirama Senju — required chakra: 1,000,000
…
"Damn! Not a single one I can build?!"
Ryota cursed in pure frustration.
"And look at these, goddamn, each one needs a million?! I've only got eighty-two thousand!"
"How many centuries will it take me to manage that? Is this some kind of cosmic joke?!"
He might have been ranting, but after a moment Ryota had to admit — it made sense.
His eyes returned to that soul list, lingering on the first line, Uchiha Madara's name.
The system hadn't specified which version of Madara, but Ryota knew full well—
If it was Madara in Six Paths Mode, that wasn't "combat power," that was straight-up a natural disaster.
"One Chibaku Tensei, and he'd probably collapse the entire first floor of the Dungeon along with Babel Tower…"
"Freya hasn't even started yet, and I'd blow up Orario myself."
He rubbed his temples, letting out a sigh.
"Thinking about it like that… maybe it's reasonable that the chakra requirement is so insane."
"System's probably worried I'd break the DanMachi world if I went nuts."
Even a spirit on the level of Obito Uchiha, once constructed, could probably use genjutsu to instantly crush half a Familia's will to fight.
Ryota swept his gaze back over the panel, eyes flicking across Hashirama, Tobirama, and for the first time, he actually felt a bit of excitement:
"If I really could build a Hashirama someday, and then learn Wood Style myself…"
"Two Great Buddha statues clapping palms together — what a scene that'd be…"
He laughed out loud at his own thought.
Just as he was about to close the virtual panel and head back to Twilight Manor—
[Ding!]
[Hidden Quest triggered—]
[Name]: Pain's Judgment of Six Paths
[Quest Objective]: Summon the Six Paths of Pain and let the DanMachi world experience true pain.
[Quest Progress]: (0/6)
[Quest Reward]: Unknown
Ryota lifted a hand to rub his forehead, feeling a chill go down his scalp.
One mission after another — was the system really not planning to let him rest?
Who was the real grind lord here?!
Still, since a Hidden Quest had appeared, Ryota had no reason to refuse.
This was one of those fate-branching opportunities, and also a clear sign that even better rewards might be on the way — he'd long since understood the system's pattern.
He brought up the [Construction Panel] again, flipping to the [Locked] section.
Sure enough—
For Pain's Six Paths, aside from Deva Path, every other path required 200,000 chakra to construct.
Deva Path alone needed 500,000 chakra.
Ryota did a quick mental calculation — completing this quest would cost 1.5 million chakra altogether.
Forget 1.5 million — he didn't even have fifty valis in his pocket right now.
Ryota's mouth twitched.
"How the hell is anyone supposed to afford this? Is there a loan program?!"
Complaints aside, he understood perfectly that it wasn't impossible.
As long as he managed the tempo well, kept pushing through the main quest, its branches, and side tasks, the chakra rewards would inevitably keep growing.
Ryota drew a deep breath, exhaled, and watched the fading virtual panel dissolve into the night.
He'd sorted through the rewards, understood the forbidden jutsu, and accepted that the future would be, well, "painful" to say the least — but right now…
"I need to focus on the present."
He lightly pushed off the roof, landing on the street below.
"Six Paths or Sage Mode, whatever — before I do anything else, I need to go home and sleep."
"I'll turn in the quest materials tomorrow."
Ryota tidied himself up, then headed down Adventurer Main Street toward Twilight Manor.
Soon enough, he reached the familiar front door, but as he approached, he couldn't help but frown.
The atmosphere outside wasn't exactly silent, but it was definitely off.
Normally, even this late, there'd be a bit of rowdy noise leaking from inside.
Tonight, though, the entire building felt wrapped in a strange, oppressive stillness.
It was… restrained, frozen, almost eerie.
Ryota stepped forward and pushed the door open.
Eeeek—
As the door creaked, every eye in the Familia's main hall snapped toward him at once.
Finn, Riveria, Ais, Lefiya…
All the core members of the Loki Familia were present.
Even Loki herself, usually smiling with those squinting eyes, sat on the couch in silence, arms folded, dead serious.
The mood… was far too heavy.
Ryota stepped into the hall, scanning the room, and looked to Finn, who was walking toward him.
"What happened?"
Finn stopped, gave Ryota a complicated look, and finally said,
"Freya… plans to challenge us to a War Game."
"Her target is you."
Ryota let out a small laugh.
"She already got approval from the Guild?"
"Not yet."
Finn shook his head and lifted a letter in his hand, bearing the Freya Familia's seal.
"They just sent this for now, saying they'll submit the formal application tomorrow, along with Freya's demands if she wins."
"Let me guess—if she wins, I have to join her Familia, right?"
This time, it was Finn's turn to stare at him in confusion. How the heck did this kid know that?
But he nodded anyway.
"Yes."
"And if we win? What's our condition?"
That one simple question made the entire hall go dead silent.
Finn was so stunned, he actually bit his thumb in disbelief — it was the first time he'd heard anyone talk so casually about a War Game with Freya's Familia.
He stood there for a couple of seconds, then finally muttered,
"We… win?"
That was something he'd never dared even think about.
Because no one really believed they could defeat Freya Familia head-on in a War Game.
Freya's power was simply overwhelming.
Ottar, that Level 7 monster, was bad enough, but add Allen, Hedin, Hogni — those three top-tier Level 6 adventurers, each of whom could be the main pillar of any other Familia.
And that was just the front line.
Freya Familia altogether had over a hundred Adventurers, not to mention non-combatants and believers.
If you counted everyone, it was a force of more than five thousand.
Even more critically—
When it came to healers, absolutely vital in war, Freya Familia's lineup was basically luxurious.
No Familia in all of Orario had more or stronger healers than them.
On paper, Loki Familia simply couldn't match them.
And their own core members had just come back from an expedition.
Their strength and stamina were still recovering, leaving them in worse shape than Freya Familia.
The War Game hadn't even started, but everyone in the room had already silently accepted one truth—
Victory wasn't on the table.
Until Ryota spoke those words, and that taut string that had nearly snapped in the air seemed to ease just a bit.
"Pfft!"
Loki abruptly stood up from the couch, arms crossed, snorting in pure disdain:
"Hand over Ryota? That lovesick goddess—she's dreaming!"
"She thinks we'll cave? Fat chance! Not in this lifetime!"
"Tomorrow I'm going to the Denatus and asking her straight to her face what she means by this!"
When Loki mentioned the Denatus, she meant the official meeting held before any War Game began.
There, the gods would decide the form of the War Game, the victory conditions, and the demands for both winner and loser.
"That woman's insane! Two of Orario's biggest factions going to war over this, what a joke!"
Finn rubbed his temples, feeling a massive headache brewing.
"It's fine, Captain Finn."
Ryota slipped off his pack and set it down.
"A War Game, huh? Sounds fun."
Fun…?
The whole group looked at Ryota like he'd grown a second head — most of all, they looked downright terrified.