AI Model: gemini-3.0-flash
Chapter 13: World Settlement
[The Hunter has completed the main quest: Kill Nishiki Waichi.]
[Main quest difficulty: Lv.8. World difficulty: Lv.10. The Hunter's exclusive trial was successful!]
[Hunter status officially unlocked. Hunting missions enabled (will be issued in the next world).]
[Special permissions activated. Current brand level verified as Rank 1. The Hunter will stay in Reincarnation Paradise for 10 days before entering the derivative world: tokyo ghoul.]
[Main quest complete. The Hunter will leave this world and return to Reincarnation Paradise in 30 seconds. Please prepare in advance.]
...Many years later, the people living in the land of Ashina would pass down stories of 'Black Day' through word of mouth.
"Have you heard the story of Black Day?
In the Year of the Dragonspring Pilgrimage, the Hirata Family was brutally ransacked by Bandits.
The people who were supposed to die that night were saved by a ronin named Black Day, who had pledged his service to the Hirata Clan..."
...[Teleportation complete. The Hunter has returned to his Exclusive Room.]
[The Exclusive Room is an absolute safe point. No one may enter without the Hunter's permission.]
[The Hunter has returned to Reincarnation Paradise. Calculating quest rewards...]
derivative world: sekiro.
Difficulty: Lv.10 (Purgatory).
World Source obtained: 18.9%.
Quests completed: 2 (Main Quest: Kill Nishiki Waichi; Side Quest: Nogami Gensai's Entrustment.)
Comprehensive evaluation score ranges from E- to S+. (The comprehensive evaluation is calculated based on the total World Source obtained and the number of tasks completed.)
Since the world level exceeds the Hunter's level by Lv.10, it is Purgatory difficulty; rewards are doubled.
Beginning collection of World Source... Collection complete. Sending rewards.
Rewards obtained: 7 Attribute Points (already includes attribute points obtained within the derivative world), 27,000 paradise coins. (This reward is the doubled value.)
Comprehensive evaluation is A+. Hunter level +2, upgraded to Lv.3. (Level increases according to the score. Additional rewards take effect. The trial world level cap is removed.)
Additional Reward: Choose two of the following five options.
1. A class inheritance with extremely high compatibility with the Hunter, 36 Attribute Points, 250,000 paradise coins, and 5 Soul Crystals (Small).
2. 3 pieces of Growth-type Equipment, 250,000 paradise coins, and 5 Soul Crystals (Small).
3. 3 designated Skill Books from the 'sekiro' world, 600,000 paradise coins, and 10 Soul Crystals (Small).
4. 1 Basic Passive, 300,000 paradise coins, and 3 Soul Crystals (Small).
5. 50 Attribute Points, 880,000 paradise coins, 12 Soul Crystals (Small), 3 Soul Crystals (Medium), and 1 Blue-quality Equipment Set.
Settlement complete. Basic rewards have been automatically deposited into the Hunter's Brand... When Roland regained consciousness, he was already inside a room.
The room was a bit strange, with four completely enclosed walls and only one door leading to the outside.
The ceiling was emitting a soft glow, making the room very bright and the temperature comfortable, without any feeling of stuffiness.
"Ugh!!! Finally, it's over! That run was exhausting!"
He stood up and stretched, clearing his mind for two or three minutes before quickly running through his to-do list.
"First, claim the additional rewards, then open the treasure chests. Next, go buy skills and equipment, and add attribute points while I'm at it. After that, I can go to the Training Ground and use my talent to grind skill levels."
Ten days wasn't exactly long, but it wasn't short either. To complete the 'No Class Speedrun' challenge, he had to make every second count.
Time to claim those additional rewards!
The first option, which contradicted the challenge, and the fifth option, which existed purely for filler, could be passed over immediately!
Next, he skipped the second option.
Since his next world was tokyo ghoul, he had a way to obtain even better growth-type 'equipment' for himself, and the cost of developing it would be much lower than typical growth-type gear.
That left only options three and four. The former was perfect for obtaining the skills he needed and building upon his existing Ashina Style skill set.
A so-called'systematic skill set,' simply put, meant two or more skills that shared the same or similar effects.
Possessing these skills simultaneously could either compensate for weaknesses, push a certain skill effect to its limit, or even develop new skill effects from the combination.
As long as it achieved a '1+1>2' effect, a system could be constructed. Like stacking blocks, one could layer various skills to maximize the utility of their effects.
By choosing high-compatibility advanced skills within the system later on, some low-level early-game skills could smoothly transition into the mid or even late game and still be useful. This ensured that the resources and energy spent on cultivating skills weren't wasted.
Taking Roland's choice as an example.
"For the additional rewards, I choose the Ninja Arts Secret Scroll, the Ninja Prosthetic Arm Arts Secret Scroll, and the Senpou Arts Secret Scroll!"
These three sets of skills all originated from the sekiro world, and all had skill effects related to 'torso damage' that could stack with each other.
On top of that, the techniques provided by these three sets were quite practical in the early stages, much like the Ashina Style.
Later, when the skill intensity could no longer keep up with his own growth, skills like the Ashina Style and Ninja Arts—which already contained rudimentary breathing methods—could transition into Breathing Technique-type skills.
As for the Basic Passive provided by the latter option, although it wasn't an immediate necessity at this stage, who would turn down a good item worth tens of thousands of Soul Coins?
Passive abilities didn't have flashy effects, but they could strengthen the self by, for example, increasing physical defense, health, speed, body coordination, strength checks, vitality recovery speed, stamina recovery speed, mana recovery, and more.
These [Basic Passives] might seem simple and were extremely expensive to upgrade, but they were the foundation for mastering powerful abilities. Moreover, they were only produced in hidden areas of low-tier worlds, making them very difficult to acquire through conventional channels.
His luck was quite good; the Basic Passive provided by the additional rewards happened to meet the needs of Roland's subsequent strength-enhancement plan.
[Basic Passive: Cloud Bat]
Type: Basic Passive Scroll
Prerequisite 1: 5 points in Agility.
Prerequisite 2: 100 points in True Agility.
Note: Satisfying either of the two will allow mastery of this ability. If Prerequisite 2 is met, the full potential of 'Basic Passive: Cloud Bat' will be released, making it a high-value Basic Passive ability.
Skill Effect 1: For every 5 points of Agility, an additional 1 point of Stamina will be gained.
Skill Effect 2:???
Skill Upgrade Requirement: Agility attribute above 10 points... "Who could refuse being able to tank damage while having high movement speed!
With this, my survivability should improve significantly!"
Roland took stock of all the gains from the additional rewards and nodded in satisfaction.
"Even though I've come into a large sum of paradise coins, most of it has to be used to acquire 'that' thing. Most of what's left will have to be allocated to buying skill books and upgrading skill levels at the Training Ground.
Hmm! As for weapons and equipment, I'll just make do for now. Once I get out of the tokyo ghoul world, I won't have to worry about that anymore, which will save a huge amount of expenditure.
If there's a funding gap, I can consider selling a few Soul Crystals. At this stage, my strength enhancement relies more on paradise coins!
Well, no use overthinking it. I'll think about those things after I finish opening the treasure chests! With ten points of luck, I should be able to get quite a few good things!"
With that thought, Roland quickly took out all the treasure chests he hadn't had time to open from his storage space. Watching them pile up into a small mountain in the room, he rubbed his hands together in excitement.