After returning to the apartment, Uchiha Shinji was still immersed in the excitement of his dojutsu enhancement.
The improvement in his dojutsu this time was almost comparable to the time when he had put in all his effort to fuse the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan.
Even with this boost, he felt that there was still room for his Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan to improve.
This meant that possessing only a pair of Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan did not even meet half the requirements to awaken the Rinnegan.
"No wonder in a thousand years of shinobi history, only Uchiha Madara managed to awaken the Rinnegan!"
Throughout the ages, the shinobi world has seen countless geniuses.
Yet, the only one to awaken the Rinnegan was Uchiha Madara!
This was because awakening the Rinnegan not only required a pair of Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan, but also the high-quality Yin Release chakra of an Otsutsuki Indra reincarnate.
This resulted in only the Otsutsuki Indra reincarnate in each generation being qualified to attempt awakening the Rinnegan.
As for the other members of the Uchiha clan, even if they managed to acquire a pair of Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan, they could only go so far.
Shinji wasn't sure whether his current Yin Release chakra quality had reached the level of an Otsutsuki Indra reincarnate, but even if it hadn't, the difference should be minimal.
[Random reward being generated]
[Gained Merit Points: 100 points]
[Total Merit Points Calculation]
[Total Merit Points: 179 points]
After Shinji's body fully accepted the gift from the shinobi world, the "Lamp" voice sounded again, announcing the random reward to Shinji.
"179 Merit Points, huh..." Shinji let out a breath and then said to the "Lamp," "I choose to upgrade my permissions!"
[Upgrading to "Lampbearer" will consume 100 Merit Points. Confirm?]
Shinji didn't hesitate: "I confirm!"
[Permission Upgrading]
[Congratulations, you have been promoted to "Lampbearer."]
[From now on, you can summon the "Lamp" to actively detect spatial rifts and traverse between planes.]
[Your number of Attendants has increased to 4.]
[You can now expend "Embers" to clear localized pollution.]
[Merit Points Calculation]
[Your remaining Merit Points are 79.]
After hearing the description from the "Lamp," Shinji took a while to fully process all the information provided.
There was no doubt:
With the permissions upgraded to the "Lampbearer" rank, Shinji had truly become a "Lampbearer" capable of guarding an entire world.
Previously, he could only act defensively. Unless, like the last time, a spatial rift happened to appear near the shinobi world, he couldn't cross dimensions.
But things were different now—he could summon the "Lamp" to detect rifts and actively cross planes.
This meant that he now had infinite possibilities!
With this thought, Shinji's mind stirred, and he summoned his "Lamp."
It wasn't the first time he had seen this Lamp. He had seen it once before when he crossed dimensions, but that time was too rushed, and he didn't get a chance to examine it closely. This time, however, he could take his time to study it.
The Lamp's appearance hadn't changed, and the faintly glowing golden sand inside was the same as before—about one-fifth of the Lamp's capacity.
"So this is the Embers, huh!"
Shinji stared at the golden sand within the Lamp and attempted to activate it.
He then discovered that the golden sand called "Embers" could indeed be manipulated by him, but his current permissions only allowed him to use the Embers for clearing pollution; he couldn't do anything else with it.
Thus, he raised the Lamp and shone its light across the village to see if there was any pollution present.
In the blink of an eye:
The entire Hidden Leaf Village was illuminated by the Lamp in Shinji's hand.
As the light swept over the village, some areas revealed clusters of black mist that were highly visible under the Lamp's light.
Standing by the window, Shinji looked serious: "Has the pollution gotten this bad already?"
From the areas of pollution, at least dozens of individuals within the village were affected, and this was just in Hidden Leaf Village alone.
If he considered the entire shinobi world, the number of individuals affected by pollution would likely be even greater!
"Sigh..."
After the initial shock, Shinji sighed.
Upon reflection, this was actually within reason.
The invasions from the Demon Slayer world were so frequent, and with the "Lampbearer" from the Demon Slayer world covering things up, there were even invasions that Shinji hadn't detected.
So the number of shinobi world inhabitants who had seen demons or heard of them was definitely not small.
At that time, Shinji had limited power and limited permissions. He could only handle the threats before him and had no way to clear all the pollution.
Knowing that this pollution would slowly bring the shinobi world closer to the Demon Slayer world, Shinji hurriedly asked the Lamp, "Evaluate this—if the pollution continues, how much time does the shinobi world have left?"
[Evaluating...]
[Based on the current rate of pollution growth, the shinobi world will collide with another world in 78 years.]
"78 years?!"
Upon hearing this number, Shinji suddenly let out a breath of relief.
Although the pollution was troublesome, it wouldn't immediately doom the shinobi world. And seventy-eight years was enough time for Shinji to grow.
However, considering that the "Lampbearer" from the Demon Slayer world was likely planning their next move, the current pollution level probably wouldn't follow the Lamp's exact evaluation.
Shinji, holding the Lamp, hesitated for a moment before ultimately putting it away and dismissing the Lamp.
During his last dimension traversal, he had learned an important piece of information: the Embers inside the Lamp could help buy time when a world was in crisis.
At that time, the world of the strongman had already faced direct attacks from the Overlord, but the Overlord only truly invaded after the Embers inside the Lamp were exhausted. Therefore, the value of Embers was incredibly high—they could save an entire world in critical moments.
Currently, the shinobi world's pollution couldn't be easily cleared, and as long as the "Lampbearer" from the Demon Slayer world remained alive, the pollution would be endless.
Thus, using precious Embers to clear the pollution right now would ultimately be meaningless.
After setting aside the issue of pollution, Shinji then turned his attention to the topic of Attendants.
The number of Attendants for a Lampbearer had increased from 2 to 4, meaning Shinji could recruit two new Attendants to strengthen his forces.
But after thinking it over, Shinji wasn't sure who would be the best candidates.
Currently, the only person that came to mind was Neji, but Neji's potential was uncertain.
If he could awaken the Tenseigan, Neji's strength would be immeasurable, but if not, then Neji would at best be an elite jonin, and it would be hard for him to even reach the Kage level.