"—!"
A surge of information poured into his mind, without any pain at all. It simply felt like he was gaining a deeper understanding of his ability—his Gemstone: Vector Manipulation. After a while...
"Huff..."
He let out a long breath. When he opened his eyes, it seed as if he was looking upon the entire world. At that mont, he finally understood his vector manipulation on a deeper level. He could clearly sense that his vector manipulation was his own, not the one displayed by Accelerator.
Accelerator's actual ability is "Accelerator" itself—fundantally a particle acceleration device and the reason for his own existence. Vector manipulation is only one manifestation of that power.
Now at Lv6, he didn't know how a Level 6 absolute power in the Toaru series compared. But he did know what his Lv. 6 could achieve. It could be roughly divided into three components: Energy Comprehension, Energy Direction Control, and Energy Infusion.
Energy Comprehension, Energy Direction Control: He comprehends the essence of certain energies, then manipulates their direction.
Compared to before, he can now do so without needing to make skin contact, and his all-around capabilities have risen. And unlike Accelerator, who actively analyzes phenona and does reverse calculations, he can naturally comprehend energy.
Sumd up simply.
"Because it's energy, I can understand it; Because I understand it, I can manipulate it."
If one wonders why, it's because he's a Gemstone—and a Gemstone is a miracle.
Energy Infusion: This ans imbuing objects that have no energy with so kind of energy he's already understood, thereby altering their vector axis in an added manner.
In fact, it might be more accurate to call his current vector manipulation energy manipulation. He can not only direct the flow of energy but also add energy to an object.
For example, you can add heat energy to a simple pebble and then manipulate the direction of that heat, granting the pebble destructive force. By increasing a vector axis, one can easily create a pseudo-black hole with the pebble at its center. If there's no vector present, he can create one out of nothing—an exceedingly direct, brute-force thod.
Creating sothing from nothing is precisely the miracle of the Gemstone. That is the power of his ability.
Compared to Accelerator's vector manipulation, there are pros and cons.
The drawback is that he can't interpret phenona by reverse calculation to fully handle their directions.
The advantage is that he needs no particular knowledge to grasp unknown energies; with no complicated inverse computations needed, he can freely control any energy's orientation.
Now, if he had to confront sothing like an apocalyptic beast's antimatter core, or even the power of a star's nucleus, he'd be confident he could naturally comprehend it and direct it. If before he was able to halt the Earth's rotation for a few seconds, now he could truly destroy a planet.
Manipulating the entire planet's energy is by no ans an exaggeration. If he so wished, in an instant he could control the Earth's entire energy, making it crumble just by altering its directional vectors. Or he could add extra energy to produce a pseudo-black-hole, and from there create a genuine black hole to annihilate the Earth.
That carefree, open-minded feeling filled his mind. Perhaps that's the confidence brought on by his power.
His S-rank ability upgraded to Lv6; next he checked if it could be raised further:
[Gemstone: Vector Manipulation advanced to Lv7 requires 5,000,000 apocalypse points!]
"—?"
He stared blankly. It wasn't that he was surprised the S-rank ability could still be raised, but the required points! Five million apocalypse points—ten tis the half-million needed for Lv6! The excitent of a mont ago instantly chilled.
"I'm so broke..."
After thinking it over, he decided to spin the wheel.
"Let's do another round. I hope I get a perception-type ability, preferably large-range."
Observation Haki, though a sensing skill, had limited range. His Intuition—a sort of sixth sense—only warned him in battle or if he were attacked, more like a Spider-Sense.
After dealing with Muzan, he realized how critical large-scale detection was. But even if he didn't get that, he wouldn't be too upset. From the changes in his vector manipulation, he saw that Lv5 was already a huge threshold. Going beyond that, to Lv6, was another major leap.
After all, vector manipulation had gained Energy Comprehension and Energy Fusion, so if his Dominator advanced further, maybe it'd also see so big transformation. At the very least, bankai-like powers hadn't erged yet, so they still warranted anticipation. Even if he didn't get a super perception skill, he'd still gain great powers in other areas.
But the wheel disappointed him again. Nine spins all turned up empty.
"Tch... can't I even get an item? All empties—who can stand that?"
He sighed and spun once more. The pointer slowed—not empty! It landed on the tenth spin, that legendary pity pull.
[Congratulations! You obtained an S-rank ability: Gluttony!]
He'd never heard of it.
[Ability]: Gluttony
[Rank]: S-rank
[Description]: Based on devouring. By devouring an object, you refine its energy.
"'Eating' stuff? Is that all?" The description was pretty short. "All right, I'll fuse it."
He rged the new ability with no hesitation. Now at Lv1 Gluttony, he looked at his own hands. The skill didn't require him to actually eat with his mouth. He picked up a teacup from the table.
"Gluttony!"
The power activated. Red matter wrapped around the teacup, and it vanished in an instant. It wasn't just gone; he felt he'd devoured it—yet gleaned no so-called refined energy.
"Because that cup had almost no energy?"
Scanning around, it was all normal household objects with no special energy. So he hopped onto the group chat:
Ren: "@everyone, does anyone have an object containing so kind of energy? Let have a look."
He sent out an apocalypse-points red envelope. Soon it was claid.
[Ding! Alia got the envelope!]
[Ding! Nami got the envelope!]
...
[All envelopes claid!]
Momonga: "Whoa, 70 points! Big shot, big shot!"
Exusiai: "I got 120 points, thanks boss."
He'd only handed out about a thousand points.
Saeko Busujima: "Ren-kun, what kind of energy object do you need?"
Ren: "Sothing containing special power would be fine—like so magic crystal from stories."
March 7: "A crystal with energy, right? Hiko definitely has one."
Exusiai: "Originite? Nah, that's no good stuff..."
All of a sudden—
[Ding! Emilia sent a private red envelope to Ren!]
[Ren received the envelope!]
In the palm of his hand, there appeared a red, faceted stone.
Emilia: "This is a magic stone from my place. Not sure if it'll help..."
Ren: "Perfect—just what I need."
[Ding! Ren also sent a private envelope to Emilia!]
Emilia: "Huh? I've already claid so points just now..."
Ren: "That was for alerting everyone. This is your paynt—take it; just 1,000 points."
Emilia: "Th-then... thank you so much, Mr. Ren!"
[Emilia has received the envelope!]
March 7: "Wah, you got there first... Pom-Pom crying.jpg"
Emilia: "I'm so sorry...!"
March 7: "Err... no, no, I was just joking around, haha."
Nami: "She's giving off that vibe of being easily deceived, huh?"
Tushan Honghong: "Take care, don't let anyone trick you."
Shinobu Kocho: "Emilia, if sothing cos up, feel free to discuss it in chat. We can give you advice."
Emilia: "Thank you all for caring!"
"Everyone is so kind..."
Emilia let out a radiant smile. That instant of beauty could even outshine blooming flowers. As a half-elf, she had long endured prejudice from others; the sincerity and concern she felt in the chat group left her overjoyed.
...
Seeing the mbers' warm gestures, Ren, the administrator, felt comforted. Casting his gaze upon the magic stone in his hand, the mont he touched it, Vector Manipulation let him instinctively sense the stone contained a kind of magical elent. By steering its direction, he could directly draw out its energy. He could even infuse brand-new energy, create a new vector axis, or shape a different form of energy orientation.
"Then what's the difference between Gluttony's devour-and-refine versus just extracting energy?"
He briefly tested it out. First, he extracted a wisp of red-colored energy, let it float in his left palm. Next, he activated Gluttony. A red substance enveloped the magic stone—devouring it.
The stone was small and not especially powerful in essence; at only Lv1, it was still easy to digest. Finishing the refinent, Ren felt an odd sensation. Opening his right hand, a hint of golden energy glimred. Tiny though it was, he understood its essence: not the magic-elent energy from before, but rather a primal, fundantal energy—a sort that could mix into all matter and reshape it.
When that energy rged into his palm, his body felt a brief surge of warmth. He detected a faint strengthening in his physical attributes. A sparkle crossed his eyes.
"So peculiar..."
He still wasn't sure if refining different materials might yield different effects. Intuition told him the power might be quite useful. Without hesitation, he spent 211,000 apocalypse points to push Gluttony to Lv5.
"I'll hold onto the remaining 21,000 or so points."
He sensed that Gluttony's upgrade felt... strange. Now it gave him the distinct impression that he could devour practically anything.
"Could I eat ghosts?" Once that idea ford, he couldn't stop thinking about it.
"Hey, ti for dinner, Ren-kun—co try what Kie and the rest made."
Hearing the word eat, instantly Sayuri called them all over to the table. They had laid out a full spread, quite appetizing indeed.
anwhile, Kanae was still mortified from earlier events. Ren forcibly summoned her out.
She stood before him, head bowed.
"Sigh..."
Ren sighed, placed a hand on her head, and gently reassured her.
"Enough hiding, now. There's a hearty al here that Sayuri says you were looking forward to. Isn't it a pity if you don't eat?"
"Uhm... I... I got it," Kanae murmured in a shy, soft voice.
Relieved, Ren got up to wash his hands. Sure, he could repel all germs, but he didn't want to break normal life habits.
Watching him leave, Kanae let her small hand brush over her hair. She still felt his warmth, stirring the watery glimr in her eyes.
...
Everyone devoured the al, and it tasted wonderful. Though Nezuko, among the three who were still demonkind, could nonetheless eat normal food, so she stuffed herself silly, collapsed onto the couch too full to move.
Kanae likewise ate her fill but, thanks to her non-human physique, instantly digested it into energy. Compared to a human, she was genuinely like a mythical Pixiu with a boundless appetite. After Sayuri, Tamayo, and Kie finished cleaning the dishes, they took their leave—Tamayo and Kie wanted to properly tidy their new house.
In the living room, Nezuko and Ren lay together watching TV. The moving images piqued Nezuko's curiosity. Eventually, she scooted little by little closer to Ren. He didn't mind, pulling her onto his lap. Lightly pinching her tiny nose, he pressed his forehead against hers.
"How co you're crawling onto ?"
Nezuko's cheeks reddened, and shyly she burrowed against him, softly replying. "I like how warm Ren-niisan's body is..."
"Is it my body heat you like, or is it , hmm?" Ren teased with a grin.
Nezuko mustered her courage.
"I like you, Ren-niisan—I want to get closer to you!"
"If you like that much, then how about showing it?"
This ti, Nezuko didn't hesitate, her petite lips pressed on his—
"Mmph!"
She wore a newly bought white sumr dress, sowhat breezy, and felt a bit chilly, so she clung even tighter.
...
In Ren's bedroom, Kanae was helping rearrange his bedding. She froze, hand covering her mouth, then glanced nervously out at the pair on the sofa. With a bashful hiss, she let out a faint sigh.
"My heart and body practically aren't my own... I truly can't leave him anymore..."
Of course, Ren wasn't overly indecent—simply letting Nezuko experience the scenery at higher elevations. Yet since it was Nezuko's first ti ascending a mountain, things got a little intense. She accidentally knocked over a cup, spilling water across the sofa. Greatly embarrassed, Nezuko fled. Ren couldn't help laughing.
"It's just a cup of water—what's there to be ashad of?"
He lightly tapped his finger. The watery blotches seeped right out from inside the couch cushions. If it were a certain bodily fluid, he wouldn't mind sampling, but for now—spilled water was just water. He casually added thermal energy, evaporating it all in an instant...
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