Kurosaki Rei wasn't entirely sure what kind of mechanism this was.
Even though outward-release skills became passive after being slotted, they weren't quite what he had originally imagined—nothing like a skill permanently orbiting his body and firing endlessly.
Instead, the skill became a toggleable passive. Much like most passives that could be turned on and off, the moment he activated the passive called "Crimson Fire Cannon", he could manually release one Crimson Fire Cannon.
This was very different from the "Crimson Fire Cannon permanently wrapping around him" state he had envisioned. Worse still, the passive's activation toggle had a 2-second cooldown, which left Kurosaki Rei somewhat dissatisfied.
At the time, he had guessed this was because the Origin Spirit Seed hadn't grown enough—and now that guess seemed to be confirmed. Just now, when he placed Crimson Fire Cannon into the slot again, the cooldown dropped to 1 second.
If the Origin Spirit Seed continued to sprout and grow, perhaps one day that cooldown would disappear entirely, and the skill would truly merge with his body—becoming a real passive.
Of course, this was only a comparative experiment.
In actual combat, Kurosaki Rei had no intention of slotting Crimson Fire Cannon. Instead, he would choose high-consumption Kidō that normally drained him dry with a single cast—such as the highly defensive Bakudō: Dankū.
Depending on the battlefield situation, he might also choose to slot Kaido. He had tested this before; likely because Kaido was inherently a self-repair technique, it could transform into a perfect passive ability.
When Kaido was placed into the slot, it became similar to a high-speed regeneration passive—extremely useful in brutal combat situations.
However, back when he only had one slot, Kurosaki Rei had prioritized Busoshoku Haki. After all, Armament Haki provided both offense and defense, and with its high defensive boost, he usually didn't suffer severe injuries anyway.
"Not enough slots…"
Kurosaki Rei muttered to himself in complaint.
He increasingly felt that the Origin Spirit Seed's slots were far too limited. Every good skill made him want to stuff it in there.
Unfortunately, there were only two slots for now, and the cooldown for swapping slotted skills was extremely long. In real combat, it was impossible to switch freely—most of the time, he'd be using abilities assigned in advance.
At the moment, Kurosaki Rei was sitting on his bed binge-watching anime. As he breathed, he naturally used the Breathing Techniques he'd learned in Demon Slayer, while simultaneously multitasking and cultivating with the Spiritual Pressure Training Method.
This was somewhat unavoidable, since he had just tested the cooldown change by slotting Crimson Fire Cannon. He'd have to wait until tomorrow before he could slot the Spiritual Pressure training again.
The next morning, Kurosaki Rei ended his pleasant all-night binge session.
Because Spiritual Pressure cultivation also had a meditative effect, he didn't feel mentally exhausted at all.
[Your consigned items have been successfully sold. Please collect the Terminus Coins via your mailbox.]
Before he even had breakfast, Kurosaki Rei received a notification from the Terminus Space.
Checking his mail, he saw that all the items he had consigned were sold. He'd rejected all previous counteroffers, so everything went at the original listed prices.
Just like that, 63,000 Terminus Coins flowed into his account.
With that added to what he already had, his total funds were back up to around 140,000 Terminus Coins.
After washing up, Kurosaki Rei submitted a request to the Terminus Space.
[Terminus, enhance my Busoshoku Haki.]
His Busoshoku Haki was currently at Level 12. Upgrading it to Level 13 required 2,800 Terminus Coins and five Small Inheritance Crystals. Each subsequent level cost an additional 400 Terminus Coins.
He upgraded it three times in a row, spending a total of 9,600 Terminus Coins and using up all his remaining Small Inheritance Crystals.
When Busoshoku Haki reached Level 15, Kurosaki Rei felt it hit another threshold.
After consulting the space, he learned that further upgrades would no longer require Small Inheritance Crystals, but Medium Inheritance Crystals instead.
He could clearly sense it himself as well—Busoshoku Haki had reached a bottleneck. Without a qualitative breakthrough, its power had essentially peaked for now.
He tried to extrapolate and imitate Ryūō based on what he'd seen in the anime, but failed. Perhaps animation and reality differed too much; without personally witnessing how the power truly operated, breaking through by imagination alone was too difficult.
Still, Kurosaki Rei didn't give up.
He felt he'd already grasped the right direction. His continued practice wasn't wasted—once he broke through, Busoshoku Haki's level would skyrocket.
After upgrading this crucial passive ability, Kurosaki Rei turned off the TV and headed back to the trading market for another look.
Whether it was due to his increased Luck attribute or not, this time he quickly found something that suited him perfectly.
The first item was a pair of boots—footwear equipment.
The stall owner seemed to be a seller dispatched by an adventurer group, judging by the wide variety of items on display.
Treading the Clouds
Origin: Native World No. 339185
Quality: Legendary
Equipment Type: Footwear
Durability: 200/200
Toughness: 39
Requirements: Agility 35, Spirit 35
Details:
A masterwork crafted by the legendary artisan Myrsis, woven from cloud-silkworm silk and drifting cotton. While worn, the covered areas gain strong physical and magical resistance.
Equipment Skill 1: Ride the Wind (Passive)
Effect: While wearing Treading the Clouds, the pioneer is blessed by wind. Air resistance during movement is reduced by 50%.
Equipment Skill 2: Step on Clouds (Passive)
Effect: While worn, the pioneer's exposure to gravity is reduced by 80%. This passive can be toggled freely with no cooldown.
Equipment Skill 3: Pierce the Clouds (Active)
Effect: Consumes a certain amount of Soul Source to instantly traverse to any visible location within 50 meters.
Cooldown: 60 minutes
Score: 330
Evaluation: Ride the wind, walk upon clouds.
The Terminus Space's evaluation was uncharacteristically serious, but that wasn't why Kurosaki Rei was interested.
He felt this equipment was especially suited for a solo explorer like himself.
Its overall score wasn't particularly high among Legendary equipment, and many explorers might not fully utilize its functionality—but he could make use of every single skill.
First of all, because he had mastered advanced Shunpo and the Thunder Breathing Techniques, his burst speed was extremely high. At that level of speed, air resistance became a real problem—it limited further acceleration and greatly increased stamina consumption.
Thus, Ride the Wind was a top-tier passive for him. In fact, it was extremely useful for any high-speed explorer—just that very few Tier-2 explorers could reach speeds comparable to his.
The second skill, Step on Clouds, was similarly useless for most people. Reducing gravity wouldn't let them fly; at best, it would slow their fall or reduce impact damage.
But for Kurosaki Rei, it was completely different.
The Shunpo he learned in the Bleach world allowed for midair movement, but required creating footholds using spirit particles.
At Kurosaki Rei's current level of spiritual pressure, this was extremely taxing. Even in the Bleach world, most Shinigami ran on the ground—only officers above a certain rank could move through the air during combat.
With Step on Clouds, however, he only needed to expend a small amount of Soul Source to create footholds.
This meant he could truly step through the air, gaining a form of pseudo-flight.
The combat benefits of midair mobility went without saying—greater maneuverability and vastly more tactical options.
As for the final skill, it was even more valuable.
Pierce the Clouds was essentially a blink. Its only drawback was the long cooldown, but at critical moments, a single blink could save a life—or decide the outcome of a battle.
All things considered, this equipment was excellent even for ordinary Tier-2 explorers, which was why the seller's asking price was steep: 70,000 Terminus Coins.
"Fifty thousand. I'll take it."
Kurosaki Rei tried to bargain. Market-wise, Legendary equipment usually ranged from 30,000 to 100,000. Footwear wasn't a main weapon—this price was indeed on the high side.
"No. That's already my lowest price."
The stall owner shook his head.
"Pierce the Clouds is strong, but this is still just footwear. Its overall value isn't that high. There aren't many people who can afford Legendary equipment in the market anyway. How many days have you been selling this?"
Kurosaki Rei calmly laid out his reasoning, then asked in return.
He wasn't unfamiliar with the market economy of the Terminus Space. Even among Tier-2 explorers, Legendary equipment was top-tier gear that few could afford.
Take Snowwind, for example—rumor had it she ranked second in the Tier-2 Arena. Only leaders of large adventurer groups like her wore full Legendary sets.
For most Tier-2 explorers, Legendary gear was simply unattainable.
Seventy thousand Terminus Coins was enough to buy a solid main weapon. Large adventurer groups would rather spend that money on a tank's shield or a healer's casting focus—not on footwear.
This item catered to only two types of buyers:
First, wealthy leaders of major adventurer groups seeking perfection.
Second, powerful solo players—people like Kurosaki Rei.
And both groups were rare. Each also had different development paths and needs, making a high-price sale even less likely.
As expected, after hearing Kurosaki Rei's reasoning, the stall owner looked uncomfortable.
"Five thousand is still not happening."
He was the sales representative of the Mammoth Adventurer Group. They had no use for the boots internally and wanted to sell them to raise funds for a new shield for their main tank.
Kurosaki Rei was right—and he knew it. The boots had been listed for nearly a week. Almost no one had shown interest, and those who did walked away the moment they heard the price.
"Fifty-five thousand. That's my final offer."
Kurosaki Rei spoke calmly.
The stall owner hesitated this time. He didn't reject outright—their group was entering a new world in a week. They couldn't keep sitting on inventory.
"Wait a moment."
He turned around to consult his teammates.
After a short while, a giant over two meters tall strode over. The stall owner immediately stood up respectfully.
"Captain."
The burly man was bare-chested, with beast pelts draped over his shoulders, looking like a primitive warrior. He wore a hearty smile as he looked at Kurosaki Rei.
"Brother, how about this—join our adventurer group, and the boots are yours for free."
Kurosaki Rei froze. He hadn't expected that.
But he shook his head.
"I don't have plans to join an adventurer group for now."
Offering a Legendary item as recruitment was genuine sincerity—but Kurosaki Rei was a Pioneer. He always had personal missions he couldn't share with others. He wasn't suited for team-based action.
If he ever needed a group, he'd form one himself—just to take advantage of adventurer group skills.
"Haha, then I guessed right. You really are a lone wolf."
The giant wasn't angry at all. He laughed loudly.
"No problem. Let's just be friends. Fifty-five thousand, right? Little Wolf—trade with him."
Hearing this, the stall owner picked up the boots and completed the transaction with Kurosaki Rei.
Kurosaki Rei paid without further bargaining.
"My name's Titan. What should I call you, friend?"
After the trade, the giant asked.
"Prison Demon."
Kurosaki Rei gave his Terminus Space nickname. In the space, few people used their real names.
With that, Kurosaki Rei turned to leave—but Titan stopped him, which puzzled him slightly.
"It's like this, Prison Demon. You're clearly a strong solo player. I was wondering—do you have any need for ranged weapons?"
Titan explained.
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