"Tatsuma, is there something you need me for?"
In the small grove behind the school, Issei, who had just been pulled there right after school, asked.
"I need your help with something."
Tatsuma stretched his body. "Can you fight me?"
"Eh? Fight?!"
Issei was startled and quickly shook his head in refusal.
"There's absolutely no need for that, I can't possibly beat you."
His experience from that morning was still vivid in his mind. The other party's speed was astonishingly fast. He didn't even have a chance to react before being pinned to the ground. Fighting someone like that would just be asking for trouble.
"I'll be careful with my strength, I guarantee you won't get hurt."
Tatsuma held up a finger and said, "And if you agree, I can give you 100,000 yen."
Issei shook his head. "It's not about the money."
"300,000 yen."
"I think you're misunderstanding me a bit..."
"1,000,000 yen."
"Deal!"
Tatsuma activated his money ability.
Issei was defeated.
As a child from an ordinary family, Issei had very limited pocket money. If he could get this sum, he wouldn't have to worry about expenses for the next three years. He could buy any game he wanted, any magazine he wanted.
"I'm ready."
Issei recalled the scenes he'd seen on TV and struck a pose, pretending to be formidable.
Tatsuma hooked a finger. "If you're ready, just come at me."
"Then I won't hold back!"
Issei charged.
Two seconds later, his vision once again turned upside down.
"Sigh, I thought this time, after preparing, it would be different."
As expected, Issei was instantly defeated with one move. However, Tatsuma kept his promise and held back a lot this time.
Climbing up from the ground, Issei dusted himself off and looked at Tatsuma, who was deep in thought.
"Judging by your expression, you seem somewhat dissatisfied. Do you want to go again?"
If it was just that level of force, Issei felt he could cooperate a few more times. Otherwise, he felt a bit uneasy about earning this million yen.
"No need, this is enough."
Tatsuma shook his head and transferred the money.
The trait-farming plan failed.
Defeating Issei again did not yield a new trait.
According to the system's prompt, repeatedly acquiring traits from the same target has a cooldown period. He would have to wait a month to acquire another trait from Issei.
"As expected, it's not that simple."
Tricks like arm wrestling didn't work, nor did repeatedly grinding for traits.
To acquire new traits, he could only spar with different people.
"Let's try a kendo dojo."
Tatsuma left school and found a nearby kendo dojo, once again using his money ability. After spending two million yen, he fought every student and teacher in the dojo.
Finally, after calling out and defeating the dojo master, he successfully obtained a white trait.
[Sword Enthusiast (White): When practicing swordsmanship, training effect increases by 10%.]
'It seems only by defeating plot characters or strong individuals with a certain level of power can I acquire traits.'
Tatsuma gained a deeper understanding of how to obtain traits.
Coming out of the kendo dojo, the sky had already grown dim.
Without wandering around anymore, Tatsuma headed towards home. However, when he passed a certain intersection, a middle-aged man handed him a flyer.
The flyer read, "Fulfill Your Wish!", with a magic circle drawn in the middle.
As if realizing something, Tatsuma didn't throw away the flyer but kept it.
Back home, he began his daily workout.
100 push-ups, 100 sit-ups, 100 squats, ending with a 10-kilometer run.
After one round of training, he rested for ten minutes before starting the second round.
He repeated this cycle for five sets, until his physical strength and willpower reached their current limits. Only then did he stop exercising, lying on the floor.
His clothes were soaked, and drops of sweat ran down his cheeks onto the floor, forming a puddle. Every muscle in his body protested with soreness, and his calves felt heavy as if filled with lead. Even a slight movement caused a piercing pain.
Over-training could damage the body, but Tatsuma didn't need to worry about that problem. After recovering slightly, he summoned his Sacred Gear to heal his injuries and began swordsmanship training.
—
At the same time.
Inside the old school building of Kuoh Academy, Yuuto pushed open the door and entered the clubroom.
"President, I'm back."
In a room filled with mysterious texts, a beautiful woman with bright red hair sat on a chair.
"You returned later than I expected."
Taking a sip from her teacup, Rias asked, "Did something unexpected happen?"
"Not exactly an accident."
Yuuto shook his head and reported everything he had seen.
"Fighting with a classmate, going to a kendo dojo to challenge them…"
A flicker of thought crossed Rias's eyes.
She had received a request from Natsuki that morning, asking her to look after Tatsuma.
As the manager of this nearby area, Rias naturally knew what had happened to Tatsuma. In a sense, her failure to stop the Cursed Spirit from causing destruction in time was her dereliction of duty.
To compensate Tatsuma, she not only gave him fifty million yen in compensation under the guise of insurance but had also been secretly watching him ever since. Because of this, Rias was well aware of what Tatsuma had been doing since being discharged from the hospital.
Buying a large amount of exercise equipment, and spending all his time exercising except for eating and sleeping.
Coupled with today's fight, and then challenging the kendo dojo after the fight...
"It seems Natsuki's guess was correct, he's gone to another extreme."
Rias sighed, "It's understandable to want to become stronger, but an extreme pursuit of power can easily cause problems. We need to find a way to guide him."
Akeno walked over from the side and asked, "What are you planning to do? Tell him everything?"
Rias nodded. "It's better to be open about this kind of thing, being secretive will only cause misunderstandings."
Buzz—
Just then, a bright light emanated from the magic circle on the ground not far away.
"It's summoning me."
In the corner of the room, a silver-haired girl who was playing a game looked up and walked towards the magic circle.
As legendary creatures, devils also had to work. Being summoned by someone, signing a contract, fulfilling the desired wish, and collecting the corresponding reward. This was the work of a devil.
"Is today a new client?"
Receiving the coordinates transmitted by the magic circle, Koneko injected demonic power and activated the teleportation.
The next second, the surrounding scenery constantly changed, and she appeared in a room filled with fitness equipment.
"Nice to meet you, I am the devil who answered your summons. Esteemed client, may I know your wish…"
The lines she had memorized by heart suddenly stopped.
Looking at the somewhat familiar man in front of her, Koneko hesitated and asked, "Excuse me, are you Tatsuma-senpai?"
"It's me."
Tatsuma offered her the snacks in his hand. "Want some?"