Kai
It took me two days to come to terms with how overpowered my contract ability actually is. Not because I didn't know it was overpowered when I wished for it, but because I think I finally internalized the fact.
I thought there would be a caveat I didn't know about or something when I asked for the ability to template copy Rias's ability. There wasn't. I checked.
It was only later that day, when I sat down after ordering food for me and Konan, that I got a glimpse of what a vague request that is.
Ability could be interpreted in so many different ways. From her ability to bear children to every talent she has.
---
Flashback
I sat down in the bedroom, because Konan was hogging the living room watching some dumb bootleg version of Dragon Ball.
I wanted to stop her from tainting her eyes with that monstrosity, but it was becoming apparent to me that I was kind of whipped when it came to her.
It might be because I was an only child in my past life, or because I didn't really have any long-lasting relationships ever…
'Hmm, let's stop the psychoanalysis for now and return to what I was doing,' I thought, letting out an amused huff.
So there I was, sitting on the bed, cross-legged and with my eyes closed. Like a meditating monk.
Not really necessary, but I wanted to visualize my power better, and I had always seen this work in anime and novels.
A minute in, and I could almost hear my father's voice saying, 'Get your stupid ass up and do something useful,' but thankfully it worked before it came to that.
I kind of saw what I was working with. I was in a dark place, like I could actually interact with the darkness one sees when one closes their eyes, but a little different.
More tangible. More real.
There, I saw a humanoid shape—female by the outline of it—but it didn't really have much in the way of features other than the red hair.
'That's the template, then,' I figured, and I tried to touch it, to nudge it closer so I could see what the use of it was.
That's when I got the information. So much information. It kind of made my forehead pulse with pain.
I quickly stopped doing anything and just tried to make sense of what the hell that was.
That's when things just clicked. I could take whatever ability I wanted from the template separately, or just take everything.
I would have taken everything, but I got this feeling in my gut—like a cold hand touching my diaphragm—that clued me into not doing that. Sure, I excluded the weaknesses, but that doesn't mean anything when working with things I barely understand.
I decided to try and just take her physical strength, ability to generate, manipulate, and use demonic magic and her power of destruction, as well as the instinct, experience, and talent in that area.
I expected it not to work, but it did. And the template suddenly looked kind of incomplete, like a puzzle missing a few pieces.
I was jolted awake—or more like kicked out of wherever that place was—by the rush of different sensory and physical feelings.
It felt like something slid into my being, melted into me so perfectly that I couldn't distinguish where the new addition began or ended.
With it came the vague, almost dream-like memories of training, yet I couldn't for the life of me identify who was training me or when that had happened.
Things just happened so fast, and I was left alone, sitting on my bed, eyes and mouth wide open.
"What the fuck was that?" I wondered aloud.
Flashback ends
---
And so, I spent the next two days, up until an hour ago, probing and analyzing until I came up with a few startlingly obvious conclusions.
First, I didn't have friends anymore. People who I could bounce ideas off of, or ask for help if I got stuck with something. Other than Konan, but she was a ten-year-old girl with little to no education, so even if she was smart as hell, I couldn't ask her.
Second, I really needed to up my intelligence. It became clear that being stupid when it comes to power might backfire on me.
Last but not least, I didn't need to fixate on everything. If it works, it works. I just had to trust my instincts and my power.
That was why Konan and I were currently in the abandoned church, standing on the altar after we cleaned the place up and sealed it against non-humans.
I needed to raise my intelligence stats, and Rias was not really that bright. Her template did not contribute much to my critical thinking.
So, I did the obvious thing and decided to kill two birds with one stone.
I decided to try and make a deal with either Michael or Gabriel. Preferably Michael. And what better way to reach out to a seraph than by using a church and praying?
I don't actually know if this will work, but there's no harm in trying.
I clasped my hands together, closed my eyes, and tried to achieve zen. To make the prayer heard loud and clear… that's how it worked, right?
I don't know. I went to church in my past life, but we didn't actually know if we were correct or just fishing for air. Plus, now that I know this is real, I have to try everything…
"Dear Michael," I prayed. "How is your day? I hope you're doing well. Sorry to hear about your father, by the way…" I stopped myself from saying more because I knew I was about to start going down a slippery slope from there, so I pivoted.
"Anyway, I just wanted to try and reach out about a deal that I am very sure you will find profitable." I continued my prayers. "I hope you can actually hear me, otherwise this is just a big waste of time. I will still try to do this once more with Gabriel, but if this doesn't work, then I will have to find another way. Have a nice day."
'That went well,' I thought to myself. 'Now let's try Gabriel.'
"Dear Gabriel, cutest face in heaven," I prayed again. "How are you doing? I just wanted to give my condolences. I heard your father passed away. If you actually hear this prayer, then know that I have already tried to reach out to Michael about a deal to help him manage the system better and return Heaven to its former glory. Because even if the Heavenly Father passed away, His will still lives…
Have a good day."
I opened my eyes, smiled, and stood up.
"That went well," I said, ignoring Konan's questioning gaze, as I took her hand and started walking away.
Now, I just needed to find good tutors for Konan's education, do more deals, and my trip to this world would be a success.
'Ooooh,' I felt like a lightbulb lit up in my head as an idea hit me.
I just thought of something, and I might just be able to kill two birds with one stone again.
I could go to Kyoto and meet with Yasaka. She had a young daughter as well, if I remembered right, and she was one of the best when it came to sage arts.
I didn't remember what the DxD equivalent was, but I knew they used nature energy, so it might be helpful with my shinobi world conquest plan.
Plus, I might gain a lot more benefits if I empowered the Youkai faction.
"Kai," Konan called out, and I looked down and saw her staring at me strangely.
"Yes?"
"Stop planning, please," she said. "You make this face when you plan, and I get a bad feeling from it."
I opened my mouth to reply, but the words just didn't come out. So I shut my mouth and continued to walk to my destination.
A restaurant Konan had picked because we had not tried their food yet.
We walked in silence, with me ignoring Konan because even if she didn't mean to, her words were hurtful.
---
Two hours later, after we had food, and Konan acted cute to get me to forgive her for her crude remark, we were heading back to our hotel suite after we stopped by to get a Pokémon manga.
I wanted to help Konan get into the concept of Pokémon because I wanted to go there and collect a few. Having Konan knowing about the general concept of 'gotta catch 'em all' was just good sense.
Nevertheless, those past two hours helped me refine my plan for Konan's education a lot better, and I found a very simple solution.
She needed more power. Be it for learning or for teaching, because I was not going to train my forces myself, that's for sure.
So, as we walked into the hotel, we caught sight of Rias and Akeno sitting in the lobby, probably waiting for us.
'It's good to see they learned from their mistakes,' I idly thought as I watched them walk toward us.
"I see you did not help yourself into our residence without invitation this time," I inclined my head in greeting and said sarcastically.
"Haha," Rias gave a mock laugh. "The hotel chain belongs to our house, so it's technically my suite," she argued.
"Which I paid to stay at…" I said before turning to Akeno. "She's not that bright, is she?"
Akeno just laughed into her hand as Rias spluttered, trying to get a response out.
"Anyway, if you are here for me, then we can discuss things back in the suite, and not here."
"We are," Akeno nodded. "And we'd appreciate that."
I nodded and started walking toward the elevator, Akeno and Rias trying to talk to Konan who just ignored them and read her manga.
"Is that Pokémon first volume?" I heard Rias ask her, and she just hummed noncommittally.
I don't know why she was even reading the thing since she could not read Japanese. She barely read the language of the ninja world, which—as opposed to what I read in fanfiction in my previous life—was definitely not Japanese.
The spoken one was a lot similar, so Konan kind of coasted on that; the written, however, was most certainly different.
For instance, they had more than three ways to write the language for some reason, and if I had to guess, it was because of ninja fuckery. Those bunch were paranoid enough to try and make a new type of written language and match it to the spoken one.
We arrived at the door of my suite, and I opened the door with the card and went inside, followed by the girls.
We settled down, them on the sofa and me on the armchair with Konan on my lap.
"So," I began. "What can I help you with?"
"Nothing much," Rias said. "We came here to deliver the gold, deliver your new identities, tell you the location of your new residence, and because I wanted to ask you a question."
"Oh, my gold." I smiled brightly. "You can just leave it there if you have to," I said, pointing to the corner of the living room not far from the entrance.
"Sure…" Akeno said unsurely, but she still stood up and went all the same.
"These are your new identities, new deed for the house, and all the documents needed for you to function like a Japanese citizen." Rias put an envelope on the coffee table.
"Now about my question," she hesitated but decided to soldier through as her eyes gained a determined look. "I want to invite you to my peerage. If you don't know what that means, it…"
"Thanks for the offer, but no," I interrupted her. "As I said yesterday, I am a neutral entity. I don't take sides because that's just bad business."
She was about to say something, but I guess something in my expression just told her that this was a futile endeavor.
I am not sure why she gave up this fast, but I guess having power made her far more reassured about her marriage than she knew herself.
"…You really are into this trading thing, huh."
"Of course," I nodded proudly, and she chuckled.
"Okay then, another question. Can I tell my friend Sona about you? I feel bad for getting powers while she didn't."
"Why are you asking me that?" I gave her a puzzled look.
"Because we signed a contract that says we can't harm you either directly or indirectly," she explained. "We literally did that two days ago."
"Yeah, but a recommendation works by you saying ' I can recommend you to someone, but you have to promise not to bring him harm either directly or indirectly.' Then if danger came from your recommendation, you will know, and you are obligated to tell me to absolve yourself from the situation. Of course, you can't abuse this because if you shared my information using recommendation knowing the danger, then the contract breach clause automatically activates…"
It was only while I was explaining like it was obvious that I remembered one single thing. I didn't actually explain anything to them.
"That's…" Akeno began as she returned to her seat and sat down. "No… do you have a guideline or a rule book?"
"No? Why would I need to do that? This is kind of obvious, isn't it? As long as you are not trying to harm me, you are free to do what you want."
"Ugh," Rias groaned into her hand, and Akeno patted her back. "You know what? Fine. Can I at least get your number to text you and ask you about whether I can recommend someone? I have a few friends I want to help."
"I don't have a phone."
"Of course you don't," they muttered.
"Fine, I will get you one later," she shrugged. "I will tell Sona today, so you can expect her tomorrow or the day after."
"Sure," I agreed. "It's always good to have more customers."
"Yeah…" they gave me a weird look and got up. "Well, that's all for today. We will meet again later."
I nodded and saw a magic circle appear beside them as they walked through it, leaving us alone once more.
I turned to Konan, and she was engrossed in her manga, which brought me back to my earlier thoughts.
Giving her power.
"Konan."
"Hmm."
"I need to give you more power…"
"Hmm," she hummed again, extending her hand without even looking at me.
I should feel offended, but for some reason I didn't. I felt kind of proud…
'How odd.'
I shook my head and summoned my case, holding it so she could touch a pill. She did.
And I began to style the powers I wanted to give her.
· Super Teacher Talent: Having an instinct to know how to teach one's students in the most optimal way.
· Super Learning Talent: Know the best way to learn anything one needs instinctively.
· The more I try, the more talented I become: You can gain talent by practicing. (Ex: You suck at Fuinjutsu, so long as you keep trying, you will keep increasing your talent in it.)
· A direct link to the creator's Essence of the Blank which works to mirror said talent in the pill taker.
I would have tried to give her Blank Essence for herself, but when I tried, something warned me not to, so I changed the wording.
I did not add any conditions, side effects, or duration for the pill.
Time resumed, and Konan took the pill without any fanfare.
She suddenly stopped and took a deep breath, her whole body shuddering before she looked at me.
She jumped into my arms and thanked me with a kiss on the cheek before she returned to her reading.
I, on the other hand, was still out of it for a few seconds more, though.
My previous deal with her made it so I gained whatever she gained.
The new talents were good, but not the reason I was feeling floaty like I was seeing pink clouds and talking ponytails.
No, the real reason was the feedback loop I fell into thanks to my previous deal.
'So that's why I got a warning…' I thought as I got myself under control.
There weren't any visible effects, so I concluded that there wouldn't be a problem later.
If I had given her her own Essence of the Blank, despite the warning, what would have happened?
I know one can take multiple essences, but not the same ones?…
'Eh, not really important.' I decided to drop the topic right then and there. There was no real reason to think about this. Not when I have new talents to break in.
'Hehehehe. This is gonna be fun.'
X_
A/N: for advance chapters, check out p@freon/hunter20