At the same time, the System brought another piece of information: with the Sword Intents Creed currently possessed, he already had enough to fuse a SSSS+-level Sword Intent.
Creed's gaze fell on Blood Shadow and Ice Erosion, and he hesitated.
No doubt, these two Sword Intents each had extremely unique attributes—but fusion carried the chance of losing certain properties, and that made him unable to decide.
Besides, he had Sakki (Killing Intent), a trump card that could amplify Sword Intent. It could push these two already terrifyingly offensive Sword Intents infinitely close to SSSS+.
"Then… why not rank up Sakki (Killing Intent) instead?"
That would be killing two birds with one stone. That was exactly how he'd thought about the previous Ability Upgrade Card too, and it had proven his choice was correct. Sakki (Killing Intent) could amplify far too many things!
Not only Sword Intent—it could even amplify Haoshoku Haki (Conqueror's Haki).
But just as that thought arose, he saw a "?" appear behind Sakki (Killing Intent), and he immediately snuffed the idea out.
Who would've thought that after one fierce battle, none of his other abilities or attributes had increased—yet Sakki (Killing Intent), an ability he hadn't had for long, was already close to ranking up?
Most likely, that amplification was related to him killing quite a few top-tier powerhouses.
Or perhaps it was connected to killing those two Blood Shadow Twin Blades.
After all, those two were butchers drenched in murder—killing aura so dense it was like a mountain.
Had his own Sakki (Killing Intent) plundered the murderous aura on their bodies?
Once that possibility surfaced, Creed immediately asked the System what was going on.
"Replying to Host: it is somewhat related to what you're considering," the System answered blandly, confirming Creed's guess.
Creed gave up on upgrading Sakki (Killing Intent), and also gave up on continuing to upgrade Sword Intent. Then he shifted his "focus" onto the Rinnegan.
Because the Rinnegan was a System reward, Creed could use it based on stamina without any obstruction at all.
But because he had no chakra and no Six Paths power, developing the Rinnegan using only stamina was anything but easy.
Creed had spent a great deal of effort, yet even now he still hadn't developed even half of its abilities.
"System, if I use this Ability Upgrade Card to enhance the Rinnegan, what abilities will I gain?"
Since the System really had answered questions like this before, Creed got a lot craftier this time—ask first, then act.
Even if it refused to answer, he wouldn't lose anything.
"Replying to Host: because this is not an ability from the same system, there are risks to upgrading. The abilities gained may not necessarily be what you want."
The System still replied blandly, and didn't stop him.
"Use the Ability Upgrade Card. Upgrade the Rinnegan!"
Creed decided.
The Rinnegan was his greatest trump card—and his strongest ability. If he didn't upgrade it, how could he deal with Imu in the future?!
"Ding. Consuming one Ability Upgrade Card. Upgrade target: Rinnegan. Upgrading Rinnegan… Upgrade complete…"
"Congratulations, Host. You have obtained three abilities: Kamui (Divine Authority), Susanoo: Chidori (Susanoo: Thousand Birds), Rinbo: Hengoku (Limbo: Border Jail) (requires SSSS-level Strength and SSSS-level Spirit to fully activate)."
"What?!"
Hearing the System prompt this time, Creed sprang to his feet in delight, his expression impossible to suppress.
This was a massive surprise—three abilities in one go!
Looks like using the Ability Upgrade Card on the Rinnegan was absolutely the correct decision!
Especially because it included the ability he'd been yearning for—Rinbo: Hengoku (Limbo: Border Jail). It was joy on top of joy!
A moment later, he calmed down—though the activation requirement for Rinbo: Hengoku (Limbo: Border Jail) was absurdly high!
Right now, his two base attributes, Strength and Spirit, were still SSSS-. To raise both to SSSS in one breath—how could that be easy?
However, with two SSSS-level Sword Intents already in hand, a "?" had appeared behind his Strength attribute as well, meaning it was close to ranking up. It was very possible that once a SSSS+-level Sword Intent appeared, Strength would rise along with it.
Or maybe, if he gained one more SSSS-level Sword Intent, Strength could rank up that way too?
Strength wouldn't be a problem, then. And Spirit would be even easier—he just needed to find someone with SSSS-level Haoshoku Haki (Conqueror's Haki) and extract it.
As he thought of a method to raise Spirit, someone immediately came to mind—Shanks.
The last time he'd met Shanks, Shanks's Haoshoku Haki (Conqueror's Haki) was already SSSS-, with a "?" behind it. Who knew if Shanks had improved during this time?
In the original setting, Shanks carried the title of the strongest Haoshoku Haki (Conqueror's Haki) user. If Shanks wasn't the strongest in this world, then who could possibly be qualified?
Or… he could wait until the day he met Imu—those ten days in the future.
Without question, as the strongest in this world, Imu's Haoshoku Haki (Conqueror's Haki) had to be at the very peak.
With that in mind, Creed felt his top priority was to make his Strength attribute rank up as soon as possible.
But from another angle, it seemed he already had the conditions to activate Rinbo: Hengoku (Limbo: Border Jail).
After all, he could upgrade to a SSSS+-level Sword Intent at any time to push Strength upward. And since Imu was his final enemy, the moment he met Imu would very likely be the moment his Spirit rose as well.
"Hah… enough of that for now. I'll go see how Shiki and Dragon are preparing."
Soon, Creed decided to give up on seclusion and go check on the situation outside.
Before he went into seclusion, he had already informed Shiki and the others that the next war would begin soon, and told them to make the necessary preparations.
When he said that back then, Shiki and Big Mom's eyes had both widened.
They'd only just finished the great decisive battle against the World Government coalition—yet they were already preparing for the next war?
In their minds, they couldn't help but label Creed a war maniac.
But after the initial shock, Shiki and Big Mom became wildly excited.
These two emperor-level monsters of the sea weren't pushovers.
When it came to war, they were even more interested than Creed himself!
Back then, Shiki had nearly wiped out Roger in his bid to seize the world—he had even stormed half of Marine Headquarters alone.
And Big Mom, in order to strengthen her power and unify the New World, never hesitated to use her own children as political sacrifices, marrying them off everywhere to form alliances.
Neither of them was a good person. Creed's proposal suited their appetites perfectly.
Unifying the New World, then sweeping the world clean and toppling the Celestial Dragons—this was a "great cause" they had long desired and felt immense motivation for.
Not long after, Creed found them in the council hall.
Shiki and Big Mom were holding a top-level meeting inside the council hall, and every single top executive of the Creed Alliance was present.
When they saw Creed arrive, the people who had been passionately discussing all stood up one after another, respectfully offering greetings.
After the great decisive battle against the World Government coalition, Creed's status in their hearts had already risen to the very highest level.
To say they revered him like a god wouldn't be an exaggeration.
(End of Chapter)
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