A/N: My vacation is over and I'm back to work now! Due to the work load, I have limited time to write new chapters. For now, I will be posting 1 chapter a day.
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The next day, Renji woke up quite early, even before the sun rose. He quickly got ready, wore his over sized pants and wicker shoes. Grabbing a bunch of flowers he prepared the day before, he left Ichiraku ramen and walked towards the cemetery.
'Time to implement my plan. Hopefully, the System can unlock more skills this time.'
He had a quick breakfast on the way, and rushed towards the cemetery. All the while he was showing a carefully crafted expression of weariness and sorrow.
Since it is so early in the morning, there shouldn't be anybody in the cemetery. Still, he maintained caution. From what he could sense, there should be no living women at least in his range.
Once he's a kilometer away from the cemetery, his mind space started to fill up with the hair of the deceased women.
He only focussed on hair with chuunin level energy, or more for now. No point absorbing energy in the hair of civilian women when there's others with ten to hundred time more energy!
Before even reaching the gates, he commanded each of the heads of hair to cut themselves off to bob length. Braids, buns, ponytails of all colors severed themself neatly. He made sure to leave a few of the chuunin alone, but cut off majority of the jonin level hair.
After the cut, the remaining bob length hair would rearrange to look messy, and the cut hair would quickly unwind into separate strands. They then penetrate the soil separately, swimming towards the path he planned to take towards his parents' graves.
By the time he reached the gates, he could already feel waves of kunoichi hair under the projected path, waiting for him to walk over!
The moment he stepped inside, one chuunin level bunch of hair quickly entered his shoe from the soil under, touching his foot. He immediately absorbed all the energy inside it causing the hair to disintegrate. By the time he lifted his leg, it was gone, and there's no trace except for his footprint!
One bunch after the other, he kept absorbing more and more Demonic Energy with each step!
Within a few minutes, he already cut the hair of hundreds of kunoichi!
If somebody could see below the earth, they'd see colorful waves of hair coming from all direction!
All this time, he was still slowly walking forward, with each step, he absorbed energy and another bunch of hair disintegrated.
In his vision, another icon showed up beside the first two.
It looked like a heart, surrounded by twisting dark bundles of hair. He had no idea what it was, but he was excited!
Suddenly, the blinking icon solidified! He was overjoyed, and read the description.
[Skill: Demonic Heart - Level MAX]
[Your heart can store unlimited Demonic Energy. You can use this energy to, fuel Active skills, upgrade an existing skill, and unlock new ones.]
'Finally, I can control demonic energy! Until now, all the energy I absorbed disappears without trace, probably being used by the System. With this, I can control the evolution of my skills!'
'And, it seems my active skills do need demonic energy. All this while, the System was probably providing the required amount to use [Hair Manipulation] and [Demonic Energy Sense].'
'I only absorbed energy from the hair Ayame, and the genin in the hospital before this. If I didn't unlock this skill now, and never absorbed more energy, imagine if the system ran out of energy in battle! I would be a sitting duck, wondering why my skills stopped working before death!'
Feeling much more confident of his actions today, he kept absorbing energy as he walked. This time, he could actually trace the energy flowing through his body and entering his heart.
'There's still a lot of hair to absorb from. Instead of storing all this energy in my heart, I should unlock more skills. Expand my options. The current skills are not diverse enough to be useful in every situation.'
Thinking this, he willed for some energy, around 100 units, to stay in the heart, and willed to use everything else to unlock new skills. Immediately, a stream of energy flowed into his head.
'Is the System based there?' He put that thought aside for the future.
He continued walking, hair kept accumulating under his feet, and he absorbed their energy.
'From outsider perspective, it must look like I'm absorbing women's' hair! After all, nobody else seems to be able sense the Demonic Energy.' He chuckled internally.
After a while, another skill appeared!
The icon this time, is a human body coated in curtains of black hair.
[Shapeshifting, Level 1]
[Consume Demonic Energy to shapeshift into any animal you've touched before. In this form, you can use all your skills.]
[Cost: 10 units]
[Duration: Infinite]
'Holy crap! That's insanely useful! I can escape as a bird, infiltrate as an insect, even swim in water as a fish! On top of that, the duration is infinite, and I can use all my skills!'
He then looked at the energy cost, 'It seems the system is following my thoughts. It described the cost in the units I defined. 10 units is equivalent to all the energy in the hair of 10 civilian women. While I'm getting a lot of energy right now, the energy I can absorb here is finite, and not replenishable. I guess I'll still have to depend on my salon. The hair of the living can replenish their energy after all.'
'This skill reminds me of Bayonetta's ability, [Beast Within]. If I remember correctly, she can transform into a panther, crow, bats, and a snake. The System must have modified this power into something I can use.'
Nodding to himself, he continued walking and more kunoichi hair kept getting delivered to him with each step.
By the time he's about to reach his parents' graves, a third skill unlocked.
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A/N: Summarizing the data Renji can see in his vision. The System would update the descriptions to match his thoughts.
[Skill: Hair Manipulation — Level 1]
[Description: You are able to manipulate hair containing Demonic Energy. You can extend, compress, grow, cut, or harden any hair you sense. The effect is amplified through direct touch. However, the manipulated hair weakens with repeated use, eventually turning to ash once the Demonic Energy within it is fully consumed.]
[Info: Demonic Energy]
[Composition: A mixture of chakra, emotional energy, and yin source.]
[Note: Due to System modifications, this energy may now be used in place of the Dark Energy originally required for Umbra magic.]
[Note: Currently, only a human female's head hair has been identified as a source of Demonic Energy.]
[Skill: Demonic Energy Sense — Level 1]
[Sense Demonic Energy within a maximum radius of 1,000 meters. The information will be arranged in a way the host can understand. Radius adjustable.]
[Toggle: On]
[Skill: Demonic Heart - Level MAX]
[Your heart can store unlimited Demonic Energy. You can use this energy to, fuel Active skills, upgrade an existing skill, and unlock new ones.]
[Shapeshifting, Level 1]
[Consume Demonic Energy to shapeshift into any animal you've touched before. In this form, you can use all your skills.]
[Cost: 10 units]
[Duration: Infinite]
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A/N: I realized that using AI is more of a chore than I expected! I keep having to rewrite much of the output to keep it in line with my ideas. So, this chapter, I typed it myself from start to end. If you feel this is a good read, I will stop using AI. Please comment you thoughts!