"Terminus, help me upgrade my title."
Kurosaki Rei was very interested in how his title would change. After all, the bonuses from The Fearless applied at every stage—the further along he went, the stronger it became.
The Terminus Space's medical services were indeed top-tier. Despite having just fought a life-and-death battle with Shen Wulong, Kurosaki Rei didn't feel tired at all, so he decided to proceed directly with enhancement.
[Title upgrade complete. Pioneer, please review your new title.]
Kurosaki Rei opened his title panel.
The original Fearless title had become—
…Brute.
The corner of Kurosaki Rei's mouth twitched. He felt unmistakable malice from the Space. So it wasn't even going to bother with polish anymore, huh?
[Title: Brute]
Rating: A− (E− ~ SSS+)
Origin: This title originated in the derivative world Bleach, and was advanced after the Pioneer crushed Shen Wulong through extreme power in the Kengan world.
Effect: While this title is equipped, the explorer's Strength attribute is locked at +2, and when performing Strength-based checks, gains 20% priority bonus. This effect applies at all tiers.
PS: Only when entering the derivative world Bleach does this title additionally grant +1000 base reputation.
Evaluation: This time, I didn't bother polishing it.
Kurosaki Rei ignored the Space's mischievous evaluation. Setting aside the name, he was quite satisfied with the upgraded effect.
The attribute bonus had increased by one point—not particularly impressive at present—but the additional priority bonus on Strength checks was very interesting.
The Terminus Space actually provided a combat assistance system. For example, when he landed a slash, he could view detailed combat logs showing how much damage he dealt. Kurosaki Rei usually didn't bother with that—he fought by instinct, not numbers.
This Strength check essentially applied to things like power clashes. For instance, if someone with equal Strength crossed blades with him, the result should normally be a stalemate—but now, he could push them back,even sending the opponent's weapon flying.
Combined with his generally higher proficiency levels compared to most explorers, if he met an opponent with similar attributes, his advantage in direct confrontation would be further amplified.
"Terminus, begin connecting me to the Origin Seed's power."
Kurosaki Rei requested—this was the part he was looking forward to the most.
[Beginning to load Spirit Seed · Origin Power for Pioneer No. 008…]
The moment the voice sounded, Kurosaki Rei's vision went black, as if seized by an immense force.
His consciousness seemed to drift through a boundless void. He heard the wails of souls, and from beyond distant worlds came furious roars that made both his body and soul tremble.
He didn't know how long passed before he slowly came to the Terminus Space's prompt sounding by his ear.
[Spirit Seed · Origin Power loading complete. The Spirit Seed slot for Pioneer No. 008 has been unlocked. Please review it in Personal Details.]
Kurosaki Rei sat up, frowning. In that chaotic state earlier, he felt like he'd heard a strangely familiar voice.
After washing his face in the bathroom to clear his head, he pushed aside that inexplicable oppressive feeling and began checking his new ability.
In his personal menu, a new category had appeared: Spirit Seeds.
Within it were nine slots. Currently, only the first slot contained information, displaying two characters—
Origin.
Kurosaki Rei opened it.
[Spirit Seed: Origin]
Seed Sequence: 1
Growth Stage: Not Sprouted
Nurturing Method: Nourished by the skills mastered by the Pioneer. The more numerous and powerful the mastered skills, the stronger the nurturing effect.
Spirit Seed Ability: The Pioneer may select one currently mastered active skill and place it into the slot provided by the Origin Seed, converting it into a cost-free passive skill.
Current Slot Count: 1
Cooldown for Switching the Slotted Skill: One natural day
After reading the description, Kurosaki Rei was briefly stunned—then ecstatic.
Worthy of its legendary uniqueness.
Turning an active skill into a no-cost passive—this was absurdly powerful. And the slot could be switched as needed. Depending on the mission world or battlefield situation, he could choose different skills to convert.
For example, he could place Armament Haki into the Origin slot, gaining permanent Armament coverage—maintaining both offense and defense at all times.
Or if he obtained some kind of damage multiplier skill, placing it there would grant continuous damage amplification.
What pleased him even more was that the Spirit Seed could grow—its current state clearly wasn't its final form.
He checked the nurturing details. It wasn't that feeding skills to the Origin Seed would make them disappear. Rather, the Origin Seed absorbed the knowledge of the skills he had already mastered, gaining growth from them.
In simple terms:
The more—and the stronger—the abilities he mastered, the faster the Origin Seed would grow. As it matured, it would unlock more slots, and its abilities might further improve.
Kurosaki Rei tried placing Armament Haki into the Origin slot and immediately felt the change.
What surprised him was that after becoming a passive, Armament Haki became far more refined. For instance, he didn't turn into a "black man" like he'd imagined.
Even though Armament Haki now covered his entire body, his skin tone remained normal. This was the Origin Seed's regulation of the skill. If he wanted, he could still manifest the black sheen.
Once again, Kurosaki Rei marveled at his absurd luck. Such a rare Spirit Seed—and he'd encountered it so early after entering the Space.
According to the Space, the Nine Great Spirit Seeds were all unique. Who knew when he'd next encounter another one?
Yes—after witnessing the power of the Origin Seed, Kurosaki Rei now strongly desired the others.
If he could collect all nine Spirit Seeds and fill the entire menu… what would happen?
Just imagining it made his blood race.
Suppressing that unrealistic fantasy for now, Kurosaki Rei checked the details of the World Core reward.
According to the Space, the World Core was proof that he had pierced the Kengan world. After the Space finished incorporating it, the world would no longer be open to other explorers. Only Kurosaki Rei would have access, able to enter it for 1000 Terminus Coins per day, whether for vacation or anything else.
Additionally, since worlds generated resources for the Space, as the holder of the World Core, Kurosaki Rei could collect a "rent" from the Terminus Space after each mission world.
Based on the Kengan world's current level, he would receive 14,000 Terminus Coins per month. Unfortunately, since the Space had just completed incorporation, he'd have to wait until next month to receive it.
After organizing his rewards, Kurosaki Rei pushed open the door and headed to the enhancement hall.
Arriving with practiced ease, he picked a man-eating plant that looked agreeable and let it swallow him whole.
[Pioneer No. 008, you have 13 free attribute points. Please allocate them.]
Kurosaki Rei had already planned this out and made his choices without hesitation:
Agility +4Constitution +6Strength +3
After a while, the man-eating plant spat him back out. Ignoring the slime still clinging to him, Kurosaki Rei immediately checked his updated stats.
[Pioneer No. 008, your base attributes (including title bonuses) are as follows:]
Constitution: 29 (+6)Strength: 25 (+3 +1)Agility: 24 (+4)Spirit: 27 (+1)Charisma: 6Luck: 1
The increase in Spirit was the result of his spiritual pressure training. And although he'd invested more points into Agility, thanks to the Brute title's bonus, Strength still edged it out.
He'd chosen to heavily invest in Constitution because of his self-created Demon-God secret technique. When activated, it massively boosted Strength and Agility. In his battle with Shen Wulong, his Constitution hadn't been high enough to fully display the technique's true power.
The Demon-God technique combined Possessing Spirit, Demon's Descent, and Ghost (Removal). At its core, it drastically unleashed human potential.
If Raian used it, he wouldn't gain much more power than his normal Removal—because as a human, Raian still had limits. His potential was already fully released.
But Kurosaki Rei was different.
He possessed the Limiter Release talent. To be honest, even he didn't know where his true potential ceiling lay.
He only vaguely felt that as long as his Constitution could withstand the strain without collapsing, he could continue releasing more and more of his potential.
Of course, as a martial artist, he wouldn't rely solely on explosive states to resolve battles. Base attributes were equally important, so he wouldn't abandon Strength and Agility just to stack Constitution.
At present, his attribute distribution was fairly balanced—tanky and lethal in normal state. Against powerful enemies, once Demon-God was activated, his Strength and Agility could even break past the current limits of a first-tier explorer, exceeding 30 points.
His battle with Shen Wulong had proven one thing:
Mechanics might dominate within a tier—but raw numbers mattered just as much in life-and-death combat.
He admitted that his proficiency and combat technique weren't as refined as Shen Wulong's.
But the one who survived was him—
not Shen Wulong.
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