"Ugh..." Linton sat up from the ground with a slight look of panic, the feeling from just now still lingering in his heart. Although the pain was turned off, the feeling of death still made him feel fear.
"The second time..." Linton slightly clenched his fist, he didn't want to keep experiencing this feeling, it seemed he was still too weak and needed to improve his abilities.
To sum it up, the Third Hokage was still someone he couldn't defeat at the moment. The opponent's physical attributes completely surpassed his, and by a large margin, it could be said to be a full attribute suppression. Moreover, his Susanoo was much more fragile than he imagined, he didn't know if it was because his eye power was insufficient or something.
When he faced Shukaku before, he seemed to have used the second stage Susanoo, although it was still in skeletal form, it could use special weapons. However, just now it seemed like he used the first stage Susanoo, and he couldn't even pull out a weapon. As for the reason, Linton didn't know either, could it be that he wasn't proficient enough?
While Linton was summarizing the situation, the system's voice also rang out.
"System notification: This exploration is complete, exploration progress is being calculated... Exploration progress 24.6%, obtained 246,000 points."
"System notification: Obtained 224,700 battle points."
"System notification: You have obtained a random reward, congratulations on obtaining the Sharingan derived ability - Amaterasu."
"Huh?" Linton was slightly taken aback, obtaining a large number of points was within his expectations, but the problem was this random reward. Of course, Linton knew what Amaterasu was, but the question was why did it appear here?
Previously, Linton discovered that his Mangekyo Sharingan didn't have any special abilities. He thought it might be necessary to defeat certain specific people to make their abilities appear in the point store. For example, defeating Itachi would allow him to buy Amaterasu and Tsukuyomi, which seemed more reasonable. But now, how did Amaterasu suddenly appear on its own? He hadn't defeated Itachi at all, okay? According to the timeline, Itachi was indeed born, but he should still be a 3 or 4-year-old child.
Maybe this random was truly random. The previous time he randomly got the Spider-Man bloodline, he didn't know if it was a coincidence. Linton previously thought it would randomly select an ability from the people he defeated. Anyway, no matter what, inexplicably obtaining a powerful move was indeed quite satisfying.
Of course, this large number of points also made Linton feel that his efforts weren't in vain. Looking at his current points, plus the ones he uploaded before, he actually had more than 590,000 points now. This could be used for a lot of upgrades.
Speaking of points, Linton also took a look at his body. To his surprise, his left arm seemed to be repaired. It was clearly broken in the previous battle, and his head was also smashed. But when he came back, it seemed to automatically repair itself, just like when he went to the Marvel universe before, he was also in perfect condition after being smashed. From the points perspective, it seemed like no points were deducted, which meant that coming back included a free automatic repair, no charge.
After thinking about it, it should be considered an employee benefit. After all, his exploration should be considered work, which meant that work-related injuries were treated for free, but self-inflicted injuries still required payment to fix.
But who was making him work? This work also had a semi-compulsory nature. The previous transmigration seemed to happen automatically after 30 days of inactivity. Thinking of this, Linton suddenly noticed another option on the points page. This option wasn't in the system store but below it, labeled "Upgrade Permissions". Linton clicked it, and it said insufficient points, requiring 1 million points.
Seeing this, Linton hesitated slightly. Upgrading permissions meant that his current permissions weren't enough? If he could upgrade his permissions, he might be able to figure out what was going on, and maybe... even find out who he really was.
Yes, Linton was still struggling with his identity. He couldn't remember anything about himself, which was quite frustrating. He desperately wanted to know who he was, or what his identity was. It was crucial. And the only clue he had right now was this strange exploration system. Maybe after upgrading his permissions, he could learn more.
The trouble was that this upgrade also required points, a whole million of them. That was too much. He had worked himself to the bone this time and only got around 600,000. It wasn't even enough. Did that mean he had to work even harder next time to get more?
Of course, Linton didn't plan on saving these points. It wasn't even close to a million anyway. He urgently needed to improve his strength now, so he'd better use these points to increase his power. Only then could he earn more points in the future. Otherwise, he'd get killed right away, and what points would there be to earn?
With that in mind, Linton started considering how to use his points. First, he decided to buy the B+ rank Sharingan that cost 100,000 points. Last time, repairing his body cost 20,000 points, which was quite a lot. He didn't know how many points it would take to fix his eyes if they got blinded. Anyway, paying it all at once would give him peace of mind, so he wouldn't be unable to afford it if he ran out of points later.
After clicking purchase, Linton's Mangekyo Sharingan underwent some changes again. It originally looked like a six-bladed windmill, and now there were some vertical black lines in the middle, which of course Linton couldn't see himself. Currently, this should be considered an Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan. Linton also looked at the A-rank above, which was probably the Rinnegan, but it required... 1 million points. He could only put that aside for now.
Next was the Sage Body, not Sage Mode of course. Linton still didn't know Sage Mode and couldn't buy it either. The Sage Body seemed to only increase physical attributes and chakra capacity. The First Hokage's vast chakra was thanks to the Sage Body. This was a skill obtained after uploading the First Hokage's cells. D-rank cost 10,000 points, C-rank cost 100,000 points. Linton bought them both directly.
Then there was Tailed Beast Chakra. He didn't know why, but this skill required 100,000 points even at D-rank. Linton initially thought he was seeing things, but after carefully counting, it was indeed that number. This was indeed a bit strange. Anyway, it seemed like a good thing, so 100,000 points were spent.
Of course, Linton also bought the Spider-Man bloodline at B-rank. In short, he bought everything he could afford that was around 100,000 points in one go. Looking at his remaining points, there were over 170,000 left. The remaining items were either too expensive or he didn't want them, like the Byakugan, which he really didn't want, worried about potential problems.
"It's a pity I didn't defeat the Third Hokage..." Linton looked at the store, still feeling conflicted about not winning against the Third. The Third was known as a ninjutsu master, possessing a vast array of techniques. If he had defeated him, his ninjutsu library would have many more options, including some special-purpose techniques like the Telescope Technique and Sealing Techniques, which were all very useful. Of course, since he hadn't achieved that, these were naturally gone. The ninjutsu Linton knew were those of the Sand ninja he defeated, mostly C-rank and D-rank, with very few B-rank and no A-rank at all.
However, while browsing the store, Linton did discover some ninjutsu he hadn't seen before, like the Five Elements Seal. He was sure he hadn't seen this technique before. After recalling, it was probably the result of uploading the scrolls he got from Orochimaru. But what was the use of this Five Elements Seal...?
After some thought, Linton decided to keep the 170,000 points for now. They might be useful for repairing his body later. Otherwise, if he ran out of points, he'd be forced into another exploration.
After adding the skills, he checked his basic attributes: Strength 489, Agility 670, Vitality 708, Intelligence 103, Spirit 3455. His attributes had increased significantly, feeling much more stable. But to be honest, he didn't quite understand the high Spirit stat. He didn't know which skill added so many Spirit points. Was it the Tailed Beast Chakra?
Anyway, after taking care of these things, Linton looked around. It was clear that he had returned to the vicinity of the town he lived in before, probably the place where he was chased by that assassin. However, there was no one else around him now.
The night was very dark, it should be midnight. The surroundings were quiet, and even the nearby town didn't have a single light on. Everyone should be asleep, and Linton didn't know what time it was.
If he calculated based on his time there, he had stayed there for at least eight or nine days. If the same amount of time had passed here, things would be really troublesome. Maybe the people here had already held a funeral for him. How would he explain it then?
Of course, there was no use thinking too much about it. He'd better go back and see first. Linton quickly changed his clothes. Fortunately, he still had the backpack function, and his previous clothes were still in the backpack. So he quickly took off the Uchiha clan clothes and put on his previous white clothes.
There were still a lot of bloodstains on these clothes, and the entire left sleeve was missing, as his entire left arm had been cut off before. It looked a bit scary, but Linton couldn't do anything about it. After all, his family was poor. Although this outfit looked decent, it was the only one he had left for appearances. He couldn't even afford spare clothes.
Under the moonlight, Linton walked towards his home. There was no one on the street, and this small town didn't have guards patrolling at night. Linton quickly returned to his house.
When he reached the door, he saw that there was still some light inside. He looked up again and saw that the big hole in the second-floor wall was still there, the one he made when dodging the assassin before.
"Eck! Eck!" Linton shouted into the house.
A voice quickly responded, but the person who came out wasn't Eck, it was the town guard, Radnor. "Young... Young Master?"
"What's wrong? You look like you've seen a ghost."
"Uh... Young Master, you're right. I really thought I saw a ghost." Radnor seemed relieved. "Young Master, are you alright?"
"Uh... Let's talk inside." Linton waved his hand and said.
(End of Chapter)