Special item acquired. Recharge now?
Holding the Shikon no Tama, Yae Sakura felt utterly astonished.
Based on what she knew from Inuyasha, the jewel always remained with Kikyō, so Yae Sakura never paid much attention to it before.
As someone familiar with the properties of the Shikon no Tama, she knew it only enhanced a monster's power; any talk of granting wishes was just fiction.
Even when used to boost a monster's strength, the resulting spiritual energy was highly impure.
For Yae Sakura, it had never been of any use before, so she hadn't paid much attention to it.
Now that she was holding the Shikon no Tama herself, could it actually be used for recharging?
What a pleasant surprise!
"Kikyo, if I use this Shikon no Tama, you won't be upset, will you?" Instead of immediately recharging with the Shikon no Tama, Yae Sakura asked Kikyo for her opinion.
"Sakura... Are you going to make a wish or enhance your power? Didn't they say it..."
"Neither..."
"Then what is it?"
"Well..." Yae Sakura struggled to explain. "Do you know how I can summon all sorts of weird weapons? I can use this to create even more weapons..."
That's the best explanation I can come up with, she thought.
"Create weapons? Then go ahead and use it... It's fine without this thing; keeping it around would only cause trouble," Kikyo said, her expression returning to calm at these words.
"Thank you." Yae Sakura gave a sincere word of thanks before beginning to recharge with the Shikon no Tama.
Recharge successful
Congratulations! You have earned:
2000 Crystals Four-star Stigma: Tsukasa (Complete Set)
"Hm? Stigma: Tsukasa? What's that?"
Recharging 2000 crystals wasn't bad at all.
One Shikon no Tama was worth 200 yuan, and it even came with a set of stigmas as a bonus.
Yae Sakura took a look at the Tsukasa set—it mainly increased attack and speed. The set's special attribute also included the ability to purify and extract souls.
The Shikon no Tama was made from Tsukasa's soul along with those of other monsters. Now turning Tsukasa into a stigma... seemed like a pretty normal thing to do, somehow.
"What's wrong?" Kikyō asked, noticing the Shikon Jewel vanish from Yae Sakura's hand. Then she seemed to drift off into her thoughts.
"Nothing much. It's just that... there won't be a Shikon Jewel anymore."
Without it, the story will change completely, won't it?
But from the start, Yae Sakura hadn't planned on relying on the original plot for anything. Most fan-made stories follow the official narrative because of all the girls in it.
Did Yae Sakura need them?
No way!
Looking at those 41 Valkyries, each one was like having a beautiful girl by her side. Sure, many were actually the same person, but their personalities were totally different.
Take Gyakushinn Miko, for example—she had this innocent young girl vibe. Flame Sakitama... she made Yae feel more mature, like a married woman.
Then there was Goushinnso Memento—he looked cold and distant, like a goddess.
Even though they were all Yae Sakura, they felt entirely separate!
And when it comes to bed... ahem, well, let's just say some interesting thoughts started popping up.
So basically...
The 41 Valkyries were like having 41 wives.
Although now those 41 "wives" were essentially... just parts of herself...
Did Yae Sakura need more girls in her life?
Nope! She didn't...
She had twins, young girls, little kids, goddesses, Asian-European mixed heritage, beast-eared, beast-tailed...
Everything one could imagine.
Without the Shikon Jewel, maybe this is my lucky break... Kikyo thought. The jewel had been with her all along, and she'd always felt it meant her future would be rough and full of misfortune.
As for how to explain giving the jewel away to the demon slayers' clan? Kikyo had already made up her mind.
"I guess..."
Without the Shikon Jewel, Inuyasha and Kikyo wouldn't have a chance to meet. And they might never encounter the ghost spider again either.
At least Kikyo could live out her life in peace now.
-
On a remote mountain path, a young girl-sized figure with fox ears and multiple tails swaying behind her was slowly driving an ox cart with a whip in hand.
Behind the cart sat two shrine maidens.
"Leaving Kaede alone again... I hope she doesn't blame us," Yae thought, glancing at Kikyo beside her. She couldn't help but notice a unique, pleasant scent coming from Kikyo—she wondered where it came from.
Yae had never seen Kikyo use any perfumes or scented oils, so could this be the legendary natural body fragrance? Whatever it was, it smelled really nice.
Since becoming a Gyakushin Miko, Yae's senses of hearing and smell had become many times sharper.
Could Inuyasha's attraction to Kikyo have something to do with this scent? Yae pondered. After all, Inuyasha is part dog, and dogs' noses are even more sensitive than those of foxes.
"Kaede won't mind; I know her well," Kikyo said, opening her eyes after being interrupted from her meditative state on the cart.
"Okay..." Although they had left Maple Village behind, Kikyo had set up barriers throughout the village. With the Shikon no Tama now gone, there shouldn't be any trouble.
However, looking at Kikyo, Yae felt like smiling...
Kikyo initially said she wouldn't come along, yet here she was accompanying them anyway.
-
The ox cart we're riding in now was bought by Yae Sakura.
Cows were expensive in this era, but that cost didn't matter for someone with millions of gold coins. In fact, she might be richer than even the Emperor himself.
Her wealth rivals that of a nation!
It was talking about Yae Sakura right now.
But...
"Higokumaru, why can't you turn into a big fox?"
Think about it: their cloud mother could be cute as a pet or used for riding.
What good is Higokumaru to me?
Cute loli act? Or seductive teenager?
"Uh... I'd like that too! But Big Sister, you have to give me the Jizo soul! Without it, I only have these abilities."
Higokumaru turned helplessly to look at Yae Sakura.
"The Jizo soul..."
Yae Sakura searched through her inventory quickly and soon found the top-rated Jizo soul.
"You can become a big fox with this?" she asked, holding up the blade called "Jizo".
"Yeah, with the Jizo soul, I'll have Higokumaru's power," Higokumaru nodded eagerly.
Higokumaru isn't the same as Higokumaru, thought Yae Sakura. One sells cuteness in an open world while picking up trash; the other is a super boss on the battlefield of memories.
"Why didn't you say something earlier?" Yae Sakura moved quickly to Higokumaru's side and playfully punched her on the head.
Thinking back to how rushed we were...
She felt instantly cheated.