Kaho's expression became extremely serious.
Karen appeared to begin worrying.
Seiji wanted to say something, but was unable to say anything.
It seemed that Kaho was quite clear on the meaning behind this question. Seiji decided to keep quiet and let her think about the answer.
"Kaho…" A few moments later, Karen couldn't help but speak up first.
"I'm no longer an ordinary person, Sister." Kaho turned to look at Karen before the latter got a chance to say anything else. "Even if I want to have an ordinary life, there's no guarantee that I won't meet something mystical again in the future. Rather than avoiding things, I prefer to face them head on. I don't know what the specifics of being a Spirit-branded Retainer are, but I believe in Seiji. I'm willing to obey him."
Kaho then turned to look directly at Seiji.
Seiji looked her straight in the eye.
"You becoming my Spirit-branded Retainer means becoming my companion. I shall take advantage of you, as well as do my very best to protect you," Seiji spoke in a serious manner.
Kaho smiled as she could sense his will.
"That's good," she spoke softly. "Take advantage of me all you want, Seiji. I'm willing to be used by you."
At this moment, the smile she showed was so brilliant, beautiful, and sparkling that everyone else was stunned by the sight.
It all started from an ordinary afternoon.
An ordinary girl was encouraged by the boy. From then on, the ordinary girl started working hard to be able to get closer to the boy who shone like a star.
After some struggles, she was now finally able to truly stand by his side.
It was an awkward, foolish, and painful process which gave her friends and relatives great difficulties. It almost ended in a tragedy…
Yet, it wasn't a complex story. It was simply a story of youth… like any other out there.
[Kaho Miyamoto]
[Special Spirit-branded Retainer host. Contracted.]
[Traits: Host to a high-level demon within her body. Summoned type. Growth rate medium, potential medium.]
[Koumei]
[Special Spirit-branded Retainer vessel. Contracted.]
[Traits: High-level insect demon. Insect queen type. Currently extremely weakened.]
Seiji was able to see in his system's [Contracted Spirit-branded Retainers] that Kaho took up 30 Spiritual Power points for him to contract with her. She only produced one point per day in exchange, and the system only gave her minor increase to ability and growth rate.
He figured that this was probably because she had only been an ordinary person to begin with.
She didn't even count as a beginner-level Spirit-branded Retainer host. The system counted her as a [special] category. It was already quite good that she had medium growth rate and potential. It was also understandable that the system's bonuses for her were low.
Seiji now also had a new category in his system called [Spirit Contracts]. This section indicated that Koumei was costing him a full 300 Spiritual Power points to keep contracted! Koumei also produced 25 points per day, and didn't gain any benefits from the system. This was because for the time being, the system was aiding her recovery at a low rate.
300 Spiritual Power points… this cost ten times as much as maintaining Kaho's contract, and five times as much as contracting with Natsuya cost!
At any rate, Seiji felt pained about how one-fourth of his total Spiritual Power value was being used up on maintaining contracts. Still, this also proved that Koumei was quite powerful indeed.
Koumei used up so many points even in an extremely weakened state. What if she was at full power?
Seiji figured that the point requirement would perhaps be multiplied several times over.
Seiji knew that Koumei was indeed quite strong. At full power, perhaps Koumei would truly be able to summon a full-scale insect invasion of Sakura Island! Luckily, it had been greatly weakened, which was why Seiji had been able to suppress it.
But even in such a weakened state, Koumei was still capable of utilizing great power as long as Seiji supported it with his Mana.
Seiji couldn't help but try imagining. With his Mana as support, if Kaho could use Koumei's power and summon a swarm of insects to crush everything… that made it seem like they were actually the antagonists.
Still, it actually felt pretty nice!
He would try it out if he got the chance… No, he didn't need to wait for a chance. He would do so immediately after letting Kaho get some rest to restore her condition. He would then enter Kazuko's Domain, and summon an insect swarm there to defeat everything within the Domain!
The more Seiji thought about it, the more he felt this was a great plan.
If this plan could work out, then it would be just like grinding for experience. He could use the insects to take care of all the monsters within the Domain. All his companions wouldn't have to do anything at all except from absorbing the experience mist.
Still, even if this seemed like a cool idea, his companions wouldn't gain any actual combat experience. It wouldn't be good for them to lose out on valuable practical experience.
Seiji decided to give it a try and see how it was later.
Something suddenly occurred to Seiji when he closed his system menu. Would existences like Koumei also appear in other places, undiscovered, and awaken on their own?
If such things truly occurred, then there might be a catastrophe in the future.
Or, perhaps the catastrophe occurred already, but was covered up, just like the Bloodwine Ritual tournament incident…
After thinking about it for a while, Seiji shook his head, and decided to stop focusing on this topic.
There were too many things to worry about. Since he had just finished with an incident, he wanted to relax a bit more.
Isamu felt like he could hear his heart beating.
It was impossible for him to calm down as he thought about the person he was about to meet.
Shiroya, a real Spiritual Ability user... would he really come?
And even if he came, would he come using his real appearance?
Although he acted quite friendly in the dream, would he be the same in reality?
'Was it really a good idea for someone like myself to meet with a Spiritual Ability user like Shiroya? Just how daring was I to even mention the thought of becoming friends with him!'
Various thoughts swirled about chaotically in Isamu's mind.
To be honest, he was a gaming nerd. Although he didn't have any social communication problems, he was more of an introvert who wasn't highly skilled at talking to others.
Isamu was the type who also got nervous when meeting regular online friends for the first time. So, of course he would be even more anxious meeting such an extraordinary person. In fact, Isamu was so nervous that he forgot that there was one more person coming to the meeting.
"Owl."
Isamu jolted upon hearing his username being called. He turned around, only to see a boy wearing a black jacket and a cap.
This boy appeared rather handsome. He had a high-bridged nose, diagonal bangs, and silver eyes. His gaze seemed somewhat icy, giving him a cool appearance.
The boy took off his cap, and asked to confirm, "You're Owl, correct?"
"Yes…" Isamu finally realized what was going on. "You're Three-Eyed Cat?"
"Yeah."
"Nice… nice to meet you, my name is Isamu Seima…"
"Don't say your real name out loud, idiot."
"Eh?"
"Even if this was a normal meeting between online friends, would you really say your real name immediately?" Three-Eyed Cat stated coldly. "Do you really believe that meeting in real life means we're all true friends?"
Isamu was rendered speechless.
Three-Eyed Cat sighed upon seeing how stupefied Isamu was.
"Forget it, I suppose I can tell you my name. I'm Ryuuma Sorimachi. Nice to meet you, please take good care of me, etc."
"Ryuuma… Sorimachi?" Isamu repeated the name, feeling that it sounded rather archaic as if it came from a period drama.
"It's the Ryuuma from shogi. My father loves to play shogi, which is why he gave me this name," Three-Eyed Cat, or Ryuuma, explained calmly.
It seemed that Ryuuma's name didn't have anything to do with period dramas after all.
"Your name is really cool. It fits you," Isamu spoke the first thing on his mind as he looked over the cool looking guy before him.
Ryuuma blinked, and averted his gaze.
"Your name fits you as well, Isamu Seima. It sounds like the main character of a children's anime."
"…Why'd you emphasize the word 'children'?"
"No reason." Ryuuma took out his cell phone, and started playing a cell phone game.
Isamu's eyes lit up when he saw the game that Ryuuma was playing.
"I'm playing that game as well!" Isamu brought out his own cell phone. "What level are you in it?"
"135."
"What!?"
Level 135 was the current level cap in the game! Isamu was astonished to hear this.
This was a popular Huaxia cell phone game called "Puppets' Frontline". The main topic was how cute girl puppets were living guns that fought each other in strategic battles. The game was relatively free-to-play-friendly, and the grinding requirements differed depending on the person.
Why did the grinding requirements differ for everyone? That was because this game was truly a test for one's brain power!
Just about every map in the game was completely random so that every battle would be different. One had to consider the balance of gun girl puppet types, formation, path taken, skills to use, and real time combat… And the more enemies you killed, the less damage or knockouts you took, and the less time you took, the more points you would receive, leading to greater experience and rewards.
In summary, skilled players wouldn't have to grind as much to speedily raise their levels. Unskilled players would have to grind a great deal in order to reach the high levels.
Since every map was completely randomized, there were no complete walkthrough for the game. There were only general strategy guides. That was why it was impossible to just copy others' strategies for this game. Achieving a high score and rank would depend completely on oneself.
"You're at such a high level… how much do you play every day?"
"About half an hour."
"Only half an hour!?"
Isamu had started playing this game from the moment that it came out. He played it for an average of an hour a day, and he was currently level 89.
This was truly a tremendous difference.
'No… it's all because I spent all my resources on the gacha for gun girl puppets! If I had played seriously from the very start, and used my resources on battling instead, I should be at least level 130 as well!' Isamu suddenly started thinking like this.
"My gun girl puppet collection is 92% complete, how about you?" Isamu asked.
92% was among the top ranks in the server for completion ratio. Isamu's collection rate was ranked in the top 500.
"93%," Ryuuma answered calmly.
"What…" Isamu was astonished yet again.
Even his collection ratio was so high!?
Isamu found this really difficult to accept. It was fine if Ryuuma was a better player, but he even had such good luck with the gacha…?
"Just how are you playing this game!?"TL/N: The knight chess piece in shogi, which is Japanese chess, is called Ryuuma in Japanese.