"You have obtained a hidden quest."
"Slay the Upper Rank Six of the Twelve Demon Moons. Quest rewards: Upper Rank Six Random Blood Demon Art x1, Upper Rank Six Random Blood Demon Art x1, Shard of God's Stone x15."
"So the demon in the Entertainment District is an Upper Rank demon. No wonder the Sound Hashira had to personally intervene!"
Byakuya showed a look of realization. A demon that Tengen Uzui had to deal with personally certainly wouldn't be ordinary.
At the same time, Byakuya wore a puzzled expression.
What was with these rewards?
The Upper Rank Six Random Blood Demon Art was easy to understand; it meant he would randomly obtain one of the opponent's blood demon arts.
But why were there two?
If it were simply obtaining two of the opponent's blood demon arts, wouldn't it just be written as "x2"?
So, was there something more to it?
As Byakuya pondered, Tsuruhina examined the obi and said, "This doesn't seem to be a demon, but rather a demonic object."
Byakuya snapped back to attention and said, "Of course, the matter isn't over yet."
The true demon was the Upper Rank Six. This obi was likely just an item belonging to it, used to imprison 'food'.
Byakuya said, "I'll leave the cleanup here to you. Notify your husband, I'm taking my leave."
After speaking, Byakuya's body dissolved into an electrical current and vanished. When he reappeared, he was back on the streets of the Entertainment District.
Due to the sudden earthquake, many people had fled to the streets.
Byakuya spotted Tanjiro Kamado in the crowd, looking around. He clearly hadn't come out because of the earthquake.
Instead, as the ground cracked from the battle, Tanjiro Kamado had smelled the scent of a demon from beneath the earth.
Byakuya waved at Tanjiro Kamado from within the crowd and then moved to a secluded corner.
"Don't worry, there is indeed a demon, but I've already dealt with it," Byakuya said. "However, the matter isn't over. There are still demons lurking within the Entertainment District, and they are clearly more troublesome."
Tanjiro Kamado asked, "Mr. Byakuya, do you have any leads?"
"Yes!" Byakuya replied. "Who is the most beautiful woman in the Entertainment District?"
Tanjiro Kamado answered, "Of course, it's the oiran."
Byakuya asked, "And the most beautiful among the oiran?"
Tanjiro Kamado thought for a moment and said, "Every establishment has its own oiran, but the most famous are likely Koisama Oiran of Tokito House, and Warabihime Oiran of Kyogoku House."
Byakuya said, "You go find Koisama, I'll go find Warabihime."
Tanjiro Kamado asked in confusion, "Are the demons targeting them?"
Byakuya explained, "Currently, the missing people are all beautiful young women from the Entertainment District. While I don't know the reason, the keywords are definitely 'beautiful' and 'young women.' In that case, wouldn't the most beautiful women in the district become his targets?"
Tanjiro Kamado nodded. "That makes sense. If that's the case, I'll definitely look after Koisama."
"Good!" Byakuya nodded, then added sheepishly, "Come back first."
Tanjiro Kamado asked, "What's wrong?"
"Give me some money." Byakuya scratched his head awkwardly. "Finding an oiran is expensive. Without money, I can't even get into the house."
Tanjiro Kamado took out his money pouch and handed it to Byakuya. "This is all I have."
Byakuya nodded, took the money, and then went back to catch up on sleep.
Demons generally didn't appear during the day, as they feared sunlight. However, operating within buildings was different. But since Byakuya had just dealt with that obi, he felt that even if the opponent was Upper Rank Six, they wouldn't be brazen enough to come out and cause trouble.
Walking along the street, Byakuya reviewed his rewards.
He wouldn't even mention the Shards of God's Stone; they were good stuff.
Recently, Byakuya had scavenged quite a few Shards of God's Stone, all thanks to the generosity of Crow Maru and his brothers from the Evil Spirit Gang, who bravely contributed their Shards of God's Stone.
With another fifteen added now, he was certainly more comfortable.
But he was still a distance away from a complete God's Stone. Moreover, Byakuya felt he had no chance of acquiring one in the short term, given the existence of the gluttonous Steel Slime.
Sound Breathing...
Although there were two quests, one of them was an upgrade for Sound Breathing.
Byakuya thought it was pretty good. This thing should be quite popular, especially the upgraded version. It should be exchangeable for some good items.
Besides that, another piece of good news was...
His mastery of the Rumble-Rumble Fruit was complete.
Rumble-Rumble Fruit (Devil Fruit) (Item) (Gold): Upon consumption, this top-tier Logia-type fruit allows the user's body to become elemental. It can transform the body into lightning, rendering physical attacks ineffective while in this state, as well as some energy attacks, and unleash lightning for attacks. Through mastery of the ability, the user can strengthen attack power and learn more techniques.
Weakness: Cannot come into contact with seawater or Seastone.
Current Mastery: 0/3000
Techniques Unlocked: 3/12
Effects: Teleportation (Utilizes the Rumble-Rumble Fruit to emit an electric field, transforming into an electric current for high-speed movement within the field, bypassing obstacles).
Lightning (Releases terrifying lightning from the palm with immense destructive power, its dazzling light can affect the vision of targets within a certain area).
Thunder Shock (A supersonic shockwave generated by electricity breaking through the air, repelling approaching attacks).
...
At first, Byakuya's face lit up with joy; it was a defensive technique. Then, his expression sank. It seemed his True Essence Body Protection would be retired.
Although the Rumble-Rumble Fruit previously only had two techniques, one for teleportation and one for discharging electricity, making it appear a bit monotonous.
Byakuya's offensive methods were actually quite varied, so he didn't lack attack options, making the monotony irrelevant.
However, in terms of defensive means, Byakuya was indeed quite lacking. Being able to add one more technique now was naturally a good thing.
Upon closer examination, Byakuya realized Thunder Shock wasn't a purely defensive technique. It didn't block attacks but rather repelled them.
Looking at it this way, the opponent might not even get a chance to touch Byakuya. Furthermore, even if they did, physical attacks were still ineffective against him.
Therefore, the effect of True Essence Body Protection seemed even more diminished.
After all, True Essence Body Protection was a purely "blocking" type of defensive technique.
The fortunate aspect was that True Essence Body Protection was part of the Five Spiritual Curses. It would eventually be upgraded and advanced, so it wouldn't be entirely useless.
As for mastery...
The second stage of mastery had increased from 0/1000 to 0/3000.
It didn't seem like much now, but if it kept doubling like this, and the Rumble-Rumble Fruit had a total of twelve effects...
Byakuya couldn't help but break out in a cold sweat.
The Steel Slime needed to devour things, the Treasury of the King needed weapons thrown into it, and the Rumble-Rumble Fruit needed its mastery to be increased...
Was his future promising or fraught with hardship?
Just looking at it made Byakuya feel a bit tired.
Fortunately, Byakuya had the spirit of Ah Q. Thinking about how depressing it was, he decided to stop thinking about it.
Back to sleep!
...