The white-haired old woman beside him said nothing, only nodding slightly.
"Rest assured."
Kikyo responded, turning and stepping away.
The figure in white robes and red hakama drifted further and further away in the morning light.
Kanbe Hikaru followed behind her, looking back once at the village built against the mountain.
The monster skulls hanging on the wooden fence still gleamed with a ghastly white in the sunlight, like countless hollow eyes watching them.
This trip was, for all intents and purposes, over.
...
The two walked back along the path they had come.
The mountain road wound along, with lush trees on both sides.
Sunlight filtered through the gaps in the leaves, casting mottled light and shadows on the ground.
As he walked, Kanbe Hikaru maintained his past habit, continuing to review the experiences of the past few days in his mind.
Reviewing; this had almost become a habit for Kanbe Hikaru.
It was also necessary.
To become stronger, to survive in a chaotic world, it was even more necessary to constantly maintain a summary and analysis of oneself—
First was the Hiraikotsu.
Favorability was maxed out, and he gained the [Bone Soul Transformation] ability.
This ability allowed his [Shield Bone Transformation] to complete its evolution, integrating offense and defense, allowing him to grow Bone Spikes and bone blades from any part of his body.
Next was the Shikon Jewel.
The favorability of the naohi had risen to 56, and he had obtained the next talent after [Spirit Vision], the [Spiritual Perception] ability.
According to this rate of progress, perhaps at max favorability, he would be able to obtain 'control' over spiritual power.
Although there was still some distance to the third threshold of max favorability, the progress was stable.
Then there was that comb of Yura of the Hair.
Favorability was still in the negative, but it had risen from -30 to around -15.
Take it slow, no need to rush.
Finally—that demon.
The worldview of demon slayer: kimetsu no yaiba also existed in this world.
This meant that the 'Progenitor of Demons', Kibutsuji Muzan, was also lurking somewhere in this world.
Those immortal demons were also wandering about.
Although there weren't many, they were ultimately a trouble.
However, at the same time, it was an opportunity.
If he could find a Nichirin Blade—that kind of weapon containing solar energy—perhaps it could also become an opportunity for him to become stronger.
In this kind of supernatural world, the essence of the sun and moon, even if the quantity was meager, would inevitably bring significant improvement.
Of course, that was a topic for later.
What was most important right now was... Materialization.
This was also his biggest bottleneck at the moment.
As mentioned before, the Six Transformations were the limit of Physical Transformation, and he had already touched this threshold.
Sharp Body Transformation, Sharp Eye Transformation, Archer Transformation, Spear-Waist Transformation, Bone Soul Transformation, Blood Transformation.
Six abilities, corresponding to six parts of the body.
Adding another transformation was theoretically impossible.
But he had managed to do it.
By relying on fusion, by adding 'details' on the basis of the 'Transformations'.
This might seem to be of no help to true Materialization, but Kanbe Hikaru knew, there was still help.
The threshold for Materialization was too high.
It was the manipulation of mass, volume, and density.
It was the alteration of basic physical properties.
It even involves the containment and control of elemental attributes.
Demons that have entered the stage of qualitative change are vastly different from ordinary demons.
For an ordinary demon to achieve Materialization, it requires decades or even centuries of accumulation.
Yet he had only transmigrated a few months ago; breaking through to Materialization in such a short time was nearly impossible.
Although he could rely on conquering non-living entities to harvest new transformations, theoretically, as long as he conquered an 'element,' he could also obtain elemental attribute transformations.
But that was difficult.
Because unless one was a natural-born elemental demon, it was hard to master the elements, and even more impossible to become the element itself—even if he conquered an artifact with elemental abilities, at most, he would only gain the ability to control the element. That would be an evolution of Physical Transformation, not Materialization.
For Kanbe Hikaru, changes in quality were undoubtedly easier to grasp.
It was just that achieving it quickly through normal means was indeed difficult.
Unless... he relied on quantitative change to achieve qualitative change.
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