Chapter 24: A Soul-Bound Prize
After lavishing the system with praise for a good while, Shinra's attention turned to the main event. He opened the lottery interface, his cursor hovering over the button. He had never been one to save his draws; unlike exchange points, which could be hoarded for a specific purchase, lottery spins were a gamble. You never knew what you would get, making them useless for planning.
He was an old hand at this by now, having drawn five times before. He was a veteran of this particular gamble.
Whoosh!
Seven prizes materialized on the grand wheel:
A Red Shovel (from some game called CF)
A Golden Wing Pistol (from "Reverse War")
A Howitzer (from "Gun God")
A vial of T-Virus Solution
Hadō #90: Kurohitsugi (Black Coffin)
Zanpakutō: Ryūjin Jakka
An Armored Summoner
Shinra's eyebrow twitched. A red shovel? An armored summoner without the core power source? Are you kidding me? He had no desire to mess with something as dangerous as the T-Virus, and modern firearms like pistols and howitzers held no appeal for him in a world of chakra.
"The system's lottery really does have everything under the sun," he muttered. "Well, no point staring. Let's spin."
He clicked the button. The pointer whirled, a blur of light, before finally slowing and landing squarely on Hadō #90: Kurohitsugi (Black Coffin).
"Not bad at all!" Shinra grinned. "It seems my European luck is on the rise today. Let's keep going!" This was undoubtedly the second-best prize on the wheel.
He clicked again. Seven new items appeared:
Flying Raijin Slash
Eight Trigrams: Mountain Crusher
Eight Trigrams: Three Hundred Sixty-One Palms (from a Naruto game)
Rinbo: Hengoku (Edge of the Wheel Tomb)
Gura Gura no Mi (Tremor-Tremor Fruit - Perfected)
Haoshoku Haki (Conqueror's Haki)
Departing Blade
This batch was significantly better than the last. Without hesitation, he initiated the draw. The pointer spun and eventually stopped on Eight Trigrams: Mountain Crusher.
It could be considered the Hyuga clan's ultimate offensive taijutsu, but for Shinra, it overlapped significantly with the raw destructive power of his Spark-Spark Fruit. He wasn't thrilled, but a prize was a prize. There were no returns or exchanges.
"Ah, well. It's a technique that can 'crush a mountain.' Even if it's just a hill, a hill is still a mountain," he consoled himself.
He clicked for the third and final draw. This time, the wheel displayed only three prizes—the fewest he had ever seen. While the quantity was low, the quality was absolutely staggering. Each one was a game-ending level of power.
The three items were:
The full physical strength of Saitama-sensei (One-Punch Man)
Zanpakutō: Ryūjin Jakka (again)
The Mystic Eyes of Death Perception
Any one of these would make him a force of nature. But a worry nagged at him. If I draw Saitama's power, will I also go bald? Or suffer from his emotional numbness? He craved power, but not at the cost of his hair or his ability to feel genuine emotion. That was a price he was unwilling to pay.
His heart pounding, he clicked the button. The pointer flew, a streak of light against the three god-tier options. It slowed, passed over the Mystic Eyes, hovered near Saitama's power, and then, with a final click, settled on Zanpakutō: Ryūjin Jakka.
Shinra let out a breath he didn't realize he was holding. The legendary sword materialized before him, and he quickly reached out to grasp it. The blade was 140 cm long with a 30 cm hilt—shorter than the one wielded by its original owner, Captain Yamamoto. In Shinra's small hands, the already imposing sword looked almost comically large.
Wielding it properly was a problem for the future. None of that could dampen his exhilaration. If he could achieve Bankai with Ryūjin Jakka, he could sweep across the entire shinobi world. But achieving Bankai was no simple feat, especially for the most powerful Zanpakutō of the fire element.
As his fingers closed around the hilt, a profound change occurred within his soul. Ryūjin Jakka fused with his very being, becoming an inseparable part of him. He could feel it, a dormant inferno now bound to his spirit.
"But... how do I achieve Shikai?" he wondered aloud, a practical concern cutting through his awe. A Zanpakutō's true power lay in its released states. Without Shikai or Bankai, it was merely an exceptionally sharp, if spiritually potent, sword.
"Whatever. I'll figure it out later," he decided, storing the sacred blade safely in his system backpack before leaving the mental space.
Lying in his physical bed, bathed in the bright moonlight, Shinra found himself wide awake. The excitement was too much. Hadō #90 was a tremendous prize, but Ryūjin Jakka was on another level entirely. The last time he'd felt this thrilled was when he first awakened the Tenseigan as an infant, and he'd literally passed out from the joy.
It took a long time for his racing heart to calm.
"It's still not enough," he whispered to the moonlit ceiling. "I have Ryūjin Jakka, but I can't release it. It doesn't actually increase my combat power right now." The realization was a sobering one. Even with the system's modification allowing him to fuel it with chakra, the energy cost for a true release would be astronomical. His dream of instant supremacy was premature.
"Sleep. I need to sleep. So I got Ryūjin Jakka. If I get something even stronger in the future, I'll probably die of excitement."
He forced his eyes shut, commanding his body to rest. He had Shadow Clones training ninjutsu; if he didn't sleep properly, his real body would be useless tomorrow.
After a restless night, he woke up feeling drained.
"Still an amateur when it comes to controlling my emotions," he chided himself with a wry smile. "You know what? I'm taking a mental health day today."
He ate a quick breakfast and headed to the academy. Despite his fatigue, a goofy, irrepressible grin kept finding its way onto his face. The sheer joy of his new acquisition was hard to contain.
"You're early today. And you look ridiculously happy," Nawaki's voice boomed as a heavy hand clapped him on the shoulder. "What's the good news? Share with the class!"
Shinra jumped, startled out of his reverie. "You scared me half to death, you know that?"
"It's your own fault for being so spacey," Nawaki retorted. "You were walking around with a dazed look and a silly smirk on your face, like you'd just won the lottery."
If only you knew, Shinra thought, his grin returning full force.