Japan, Tokyo.
"So I really did travel to another world…"
Staring at the completely unfamiliar scene in front of him, Byakuya muttered to himself.
He had already figured out the situation: after being hit by a truck in his past life, he had crossed over to the world of Tokyo Ghoul.
This world was still Earth, but it was different from the Earth he'd known. The biggest difference lay in the presence of strange beings who regarded humans as food, known as "Ghouls".
Ghouls generally possessed far greater strength than ordinary humans, making this a rather dangerous world.
Of course, as a "transmigrator" Byakuya had access to his golden finger.
The Mangekyo Sharingan: Kamui!
To be exact, it was a "Double Kamui".
With a mere thought, Byakuya's originally black eyes turned blood-red, each iris bearing three sickle-shaped tomoe—an exclusive mark of Kamui. With another thought, his eyes returned to their normal black.
Not only that, but he had a system. It was thanks to this system that he was able to travel to this world and gain Double Kamui.
Whenever he thought about it, a system interface would appear before him, visible only to him.
[Host: Uchiha Byakuya]
[Race: Half-Human]
[Identity: Second-Class CCG Investigator (Public), Sunlit Garden Half-Human (Secret)]
[Age: 18]
[Physical Strength: 20 (average healthy human score is 10)]
[RC Cell Count: 500 (average healthy human range is 200–500)]
[Current Attribute Points: 0]
The system interface showed that Byakuya was neither fully human nor a full ghoul but a half-human.
A half-human is the offspring of a human and a ghoul, with an RC cell count typically higher than that of an average human but lower than that of a ghoul, along with a physical constitution stronger than an ordinary human.
RC cells are special cells present in both humans and ghouls. They circulate like blood but are as hard as steel; the higher the RC cell count, the greater one's strength.
Ghouls eat human flesh not just because they are unable to consume regular human food, but also to keep their RC cells active, thus sustaining and enhancing their strength. The RC cells flow to a special organ called kakuhou the most crucial organ for ghouls.
Although Byakuya, as a half-human, didn't have a kakuhou, RC cells were still essential to him.
Since he didn't have chakra, his Double Kamui, modified by the system, consumed RC cells instead.
The drain from using just one Kamui is already notorious — Kakashi was proof of that — let alone using Double Kamui. With his current RC cell count of 500, he was relatively strong compared to an ordinary human, but just a single use of the Kamui technique would likely leave him severely depleted.
The higher his RC cell count, the more freely he could use Double Kamui.
Then there were his "Physical Strength" attribute, which essentially represented his bodily endurance.
As a half-human, his strength was about twice that of an average human, though that was fairly typical for a half-human.
But there was another key advantage of his Physical Strength attribute, it allowed his RC cells and the Mangekyo Sharingan's eye power to recover on their own. The higher his Physical Strength, the faster his RC cells and eye power would regenerate.
Ghouls typically rely on consuming human flesh to restore and maintain their RC cells, but Byakuya had no desire to eat human flesh, so this Physical Strength attribute was particularly valuable to him.
However…he would need attribute points to increase his RC cell count and Physical Strength, and Attribute Points were not easy to obtain.
[Ding! The Host has received a "Beginner's Gift Pack." Would you like to open it?]
'Beginner's Gift Pack?'
Delighted, Uchiha Byakuya unhesitatingly chose "Yes!"
[Ding! The Host has opened the "Beginner's Gift Pack" and received: 100 Attribute Points, and the System Shop has been unlocked!]
With 100 Attribute Points given to him, Byakuya was more than satisfied.
But he didn't rush to use them; he hadn't yet determined the ideal balance between Physical Strength and RC cell count, so he refrained from assigning points just yet.
Without this Beginner's Gift Pack, his only way to gain attribute points would be by checking in with the system daily or by killing ghouls or other people.
Killing was something he wasn't willing to do in principle, unless the person was truly evil, he couldn't bring himself to kill an innocent.
As for Ghouls, he had a similar mindset.
The primary difference between ghouls and humans lay in their RC cell count. In fact, all evil in this world could be traced back to RC cells.
Once RC cells reach a certain level, neither humans nor ghouls can eat normal food and must instead consume human flesh.
Even half-humans can't eat regular food once their RC cell count matches that of a ghoul.
This fact, that ghouls can only consume human flesh—has doomed them to be humanity's mortal enemy, despite looking, feeling, and acting much like humans.
Of course, some ghouls are innocent, like those who only eat corpses. Byakuya couldn't bring himself to harm these innocent ghouls, either.
His principle was to treat humans and ghouls equally, avoiding harm to any innocent humans or ghouls.
"Byakuya, how do you feel about starting to work here?"
Just then, a voice interrupted Byakuya's thoughts.
Turning, he saw Shunji Shiono and nodded with a smile. "I'm enjoying it so far. Thanks for checking in, Shunji"
Indeed, Byakuya was currently working as a new editor at a publishing company called Shoeisha.
In reality, he was an undercover CCG Investigator assigned to investigate ghouls within Shoeisha.
The CCG, or Commission of Counter Ghoul, is a government agency tasked with handling ghoul-related incidents.
"Oh, youth is wonderful" Shunji mused as he sat at his desk. "A middle school girl just came by to see me. It's admirable that she had the courage to bring in a manuscript, but what could a middle schooler possibly write? And she brought a huge stack! Who has the time to read it?"
"A middle school girl?"
Something clicked for Byakuya, and he immediately requested, "Shunji, could I take a look at that manuscript?"
Most likely, that girl was Eto Yoshimura, or, in the future, the famed "Sen Takatsuki!"