Kai opened his eyes with a splitting headache two days later.
The cry of birds and the surrounding chill told him it was early morning, just short enough to call it dawn.
With one deep breath, Kai assessed the state of his body. His right hand had regenerated, and the hideous scar on his body had also healed.
His HP had hit its limit as well, showcasing the full 200 points. (-5 points buff by Adulterer Title-)
But there was a fatigue stabbing in his bones, muscles, and tendons, making Kai wince as he tried to move his fingers.
It was the aftereffect of using the Forbidden Technique along with the Little War Horn.
Serpent God's Wrath let Kai concentrate all the power of his body into specific parts of his body, turning them into ticking time bombs.
That's why Kai could never cancel this technique once implemented, otherwise, the concentrated power would implode, shattering his bones, organs, and almost everything.
Not to mention, it strained every fiber of his muscles, overexerting them beyond the limit.
To be called a Forbidden Technique had equivalent repercussions.
Then there was Little War Horn, a monstrous Skill, in itself.
Cutting himself didn't mean Kai wouldn't be subjected to the cursed poison. No. It worked the same as on the others, attacking Kai's heart.
The single function this Skill had was to give Kai a chance to resist the pain brought about by the cursed poison, stimulating more power out of him.
And the only condition was that Kai must discard his humanity; every single time.
The problem lay not in discarding, but the former part of stimulation.
In essence, Little War Horn did the same thing as Serpent God's Wrath. The only difference was that in the former case, the Stats reflected the Skill's effects, while in the latter case, it was more personal.
However, it didn't alter the fact that using these two together was like squeezing out juice from a lime, despite it being already dried and crumpled.
No wonder he couldn't feel an ounce of power within him, despite his Stats being full to the brim.
Sigh! Kai let out a breath inwardly, closing his eyes. Stats aren't always reliable. One can't judge someone's condition based on the Attributes alone. Quite a loophole.
Slowly, Kai turned his head left.
A small girl was sleeping soundly there with a bamboo piece in her mouth. Kai immediately recognized her.
The Package — Nezuko.
To Nezuko's left, Kai found Shinobu.
Her face was still pale, but the shadow of death seemed to have abandoned her.
Kai looked at her with a profound, complicated gaze. Even now he couldn't believe that she had barged into the fight between him and Flame Hashira without consuming the HP Capsule.
How could she move like that with her injuries, Kai had thought then. But her sacrifice of not using the HP capsule wasn't the reason behind Kai's complicated gaze.
It was him not calculating it beforehand.
As he looked at her more and more, his mind racing, Kai couldn't help but accept he had indeed underestimated people's foolishness.
Well, Kai thought, willing his mind to push his body up. Early birds eat the worms.
There were too many questions in his mind, and there was only one way to get the answers.
Little by little, moving one muscle after another, Kai got up.
His haori had been burned by the dragon's flames, so there was only a kimono on him now, and under the kimono were the Book and other Items.
Yet, Golduck-Kai had an affinity with water and had some resistance to cold as well. So the morning chill didn't overly bother him.
Kai went over to Shinobu's side and checked her for hidden injuries.
A few bones are still broken, Kai observed. But there is no internal bleeding, her organs are functioning properly, and her vitals are looking good, too. Hmm, this Breathing Art is truly a great recuperating method. Commendable!
Kai made sure that she was truly out of mortal danger.
He had already invested too much time in her. Not to mention, after seeing the Flame Hashira using Bankai, a primal desire had flamed in Kai's heart.
Now he wanted her more than ever. An unconditional follower like her would let him gain even more benefits.
Covering both the girls up with their cloaks, Kai walked out of the hut, keeping himself within the 100 meters limit from Nezuko.
Now, it was time to contact Sponsors.
With his one thought, the Systems established a channel with Sponsor Ravana from the 18th floor, a countdown of an hour ticking simultaneously.
"I have some questions," Kai said, keeping his voice low.
"You finally contacted someone, lad," an aged voice entered Kai's ears. It was heavy, belonged to a male, and was ringing with wisdom. "Speak. I will decide the price after listening to your questions."
This was a most natural conversation, and Ravana's words made sense at a glance.
But inside, Kai's heart pounded. He didn't know why, but he could sense an apprehensive and greedy tone behind those words.
"My first question is obvious, isn't it?" Kai sneered, bringing out an arrogant personality to counter the other party's apprehension. "What's going on? Why are this world's Characters using Bankai? And tell me straight, old man. Am I fucked or what?"
"You are and you are not," the old voice replied. "I have the answer to your question, lad."
"What do you want?" Kai asked, his heart already pounding.
There was something odd going on, and this price would confirm his doubts, Kai knew.
"Multiverse Id of your current Random World," Ravana demanded. "It's quite cheap, considering your circumstances. Believe me."
Oh, seven hells! Kai's mind roared. I knew I was not having this odd feeling without cause. Tch!
If Kai hadn't contacted Sponsor Aphrodite before, then he could have never guessed it.
These Sponsors had only one interest at the beginning of the 2nd stage — Candidate Red.
Aphrodite's asking him about his Mission Grade was related to Kai's Stats. So it hadn't surprised him. But this…
… this demand changed everything.
The presence of Bankai in this world meant there was something wrong with the Random World itself, which in turn meant Kai had some immense secret about him.
So, it would have made sense if Ravana had asked what was so special about Kai for the world's oddity.
However, demanding Multiverse Id meant the Random World itself had transcended Kai in importance.
This wasn't something that boded well for him. Not at all.
"Humph!" Kai snorted. "Multiverse ID? I don't even have it. How am I to give it to you? Have you gone insane?"
Contestant Ravana chuckled, not minding Kai's tone at all.
"No worries," he drawled. "You will most likely get the Multiverse Id as a reward after the Mission's Completion. You can swear an oath upon Chaos' name, stating that you will give it to me after the completion of the stage and not to anyone else. Think about it. You need an answer more than me."
Kai's face looked thoughtful, but inwardly he sneered. Motherfucker! He cursed, repeating the suggestion. Does he think I am a twat? Multiverse IDs for brand new Random Worlds are almost priceless. The sheer amount of rewards and resources one could obtain from such worlds, because of the absence of other Contestants and it being an untouched world, is unimaginable.
Not to mention, breaking an oath sworn upon Chaos' name deducts random points from Attributes depending upon the quality and quantity of the oath's contents.
Meg told me that there are cases of even Abilities vanishing from the Stats.
It's a fucking trap!
**************
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