In the fast-moving and quiet train.
Sitting in his seat, Hikaru watched the sunset outside the window and the night that had fully arrived. His eyes couldn't help but sink into thought.
"The Dimensional List appears too frequently. At this rate, a new list will appear in one or two days."
Thinking about this, Hikaru felt a headache. Its frequent appearances were indeed slightly beyond his expectations. He originally thought it would appear at least once a week.
Who would have thought it was only within two days.
The sudden appearance of the Dimensional List, in a certain sense, not only disrupted the balance and stability between many mythologies and powers in the world, but also messed up some of his plans. If this continued, soon, his identity would be exposed.
This was a very troublesome problem for him currently. Unfortunately, he couldn't interfere with the Dimensional List. To avoid future problems, he could only complete his plans as quickly as possible.
"Hopefully Cao Cao is already prepared."
Hikaru muttered to himself.
"If not, if the plan is suddenly advanced, there will definitely be some unexpected gaps."
Actually, Hikaru himself didn't like the feeling of entrusting everything to others, but there were some things that were difficult for him to intervene in because of his identity. Reckless intervention would only bring more problems, and not worth the results.
"This can only be discussed later. Those guys didn't appear on the Transcendent List. They must have broken through and ascended to the Devil King level. This is good news. Plus with Yuriko, the mid to high-level combat power is sufficient."
"This also resolves a not-small problem."
"However, speaking of the Transcendent List, overall, based on its rank rewards, it's slightly lower than the Eternal Beauty List."
Hikaru secretly compared the rank rewards of the two lists, the Eternal Beauty List and Transcendent List in his heart.
Leaving aside the others, just counting the top three rewards, it should be noted that the rank rewards of Mio, Sei, and Koi almost all involved the realm of The Other Side. Meanwhile, on the Transcendent List, only the first rank's Rank Reward: Level 6 Calculation (Transcendent) belonging to Yuriko was slightly involved.
"Thus, the rank rewards set by the Dimensional List are more based on the evaluation of the strength of the people entering the entire list. Just like the Eternal Beauty List, because Sei-chan and the others are existences in the realm of The Other Side, or nearly in the realm of The Other Side, the rewards given are at this level."
"Whereas the people on the Transcendent List have maximum supreme-level Devil power. The biggest problem they face is breaking through and ascending to the Devil King level. Therefore, both Rank Reward: Divine Authority Arbitrase belonging to Shana, and Rank Reward: Level 6 Calculation (Transcendent) belonging to Yuriko, are all based on this point."
After these thoughts circulated, some thoughts in Hikaru's heart became more organized.
"If I can enter the list in the future, the rank rewards touched might be roughly the same as Mio and the others, all involving things in the realm of The Other Side."
After all, with his current power, things at the Transcendent level were already optional. What was useful to him were only things involving the realm of The Other Side. Thinking of this, Hikaru's heart felt slightly excited.
As said before, no Transcendent in this world can resist the realm of The Other Side, even if just touching it a little. Hikaru's current power was only Transcendent. Of course, this one Transcendent was a bit too strong.
However, fundamentally, he had not truly broken through and ascended to the realm of The Other Side.
As Hikaru's thoughts continued to ponder.
Suddenly....
"Senpai, may I sit next to you?"
A soft voice with a bit of shyness and joy sounded in Hikaru's ear.
"Kotonoha!"
Hikaru, awakened from his reverie, saw Kotonoha wearing a mask who had appeared in front of him at some point.
Kotonoha, hearing Hikaru directly call her name, her small face covered by the mask slightly flushed pink. Her eyes only showed shyness and not the slightest dislike.
"Please sit!"
Hikaru smiled faintly, extended his hand, and made a polite 'please' gesture.
"Thank you, Senpai!"
Kotonoha sat shyly and a bit awkwardly to Hikaru's right.
"Kotonoha, are you going home?"
"Originally yes, but the appearance of the Transcendent List delayed a bit. And now there's a little change again."
Kotonoha's eyes flickered and hesitated as she looked at Hikaru. After several seconds of silence, she said, "Senpai, you're going to Kaguya-sama's residence, right?"
Hikaru was stunned. He was a bit confused about how Kotonoha knew about this. He didn't remember telling anyone besides Utaha, Kagura, and Yomi.
"Just after the Transcendent List announcement finished, I received a call from my mother, telling me to stay at Kaguya-sama's residence for a while."
Kotonoha's tone became lower and lower, as if she had done something wrong.
"You're going to stay at Kaguya's residence!"
This was something Hikaru hadn't thought of.
"She said it was Shinomiya-sama who ordered it." Kotonoha said honestly and obediently.
Hikaru naturally knew who Shinomiya-sama Kotonoha mentioned was. It was the head of the Shinomiya family, his Uncle Shinomiya, Shinomiya Gan'an. The only thing that made him slightly confused was what Uncle Shinomiya really wanted to do.
If moving him back to live in the Shinomiya residence was to ease the stiffness between him and Kaguya and cultivate their relationship, then what was the meaning of asking Kotonoha to stay there now.
"That..."
Kotonoha thought of something and continued, "It seems it's not just me. There's also Asuna-san from the Yuuki family, and Shirayuki Hime-san and Kuroyukihime-san from the Yanagawa family."
"Shirayuki is also there!"
The corner of Hikaru's mouth twitched. If Shirayuki Hime and Kaguya really lived together, wouldn't they fight? The temperaments and personalities of these two young ladies were completely opposite. Most importantly, on one side was his ex-girlfriend, and on the other side was his fiancée.
Caught between them, he felt unprecedented awkwardness.
"Yes, Senpai!"
Hikaru thought seriously for a moment, and he had a general understanding of the thoughts of other families, including the Shinomiya family.
"Provoked by some existences on the Transcendent List, feeling threatened, and must huddle together for warmth."
Both Shirayuki Hime, Kuroyukihime, Kotonoha, Asuna, and Kaguya, they all had the same identity: young ladies from the main zaibatsu (conglomerate groups) dominating Japan's economy.
Although the Katsura family couldn't compare to the Shinomiya family and Yuuki family, it also couldn't be underestimated; it was a fairly strong mid-tier zaibatsu, and affiliated with the Shinomiya family.
The interests of these families were very complicated, and the relationships between them were also diverse and complex. Now, with the emergence of the Dimensional List, these families also felt the crisis, making the girls who entered the Eternal Beauty List gather together, even jointly entering training paths, building cooperation to jointly face the coming great trend. In all aspects, this was beneficial for the stability and security of each family.
As for why they lived together in the Shinomiya residence, the reason was of course because the Shinomiya family, currently, was far stronger than the other three families.
"Senpai..."
Seeing Hikaru slightly dazed, Kotonoha beside him couldn't help but call him softly.
"Sorry, I was a bit lost in thought earlier."
Hikaru apologized.
"Kotonoha, do you know who each of your families invited to teach you to enter the training path?"
"I heard my mother say that the Yuuki family invited Onmyōji from the Onmyō Agency. While the Yanagawa family has deep ties with the military, and invited Kisho Arima from CCG. The Shinomiya family seems to have invited a devil..."
Kotonoha told Hikaru everything without hiding anything.
"Onmyō-dō, Kenjutsu (sword arts), and also tactics or magic... quite complete."
Even Hikaru couldn't help but nod.
Among them, Arima was nicknamed the Shinigami (God of Death) Unbeatable Investigator in CCG, although he didn't enter the Transcendent List, the reason wasn't because his power was insufficient. It should be noted that his power was in no way inferior to Takatsuki Sen. Especially his Kenjutsu. The reason he didn't enter the Transcendent List was because of his age and physical limitations.
As a half-human of Ghoul and human, short lifespan was a common problem for people like this. The Transcendent List naturally wouldn't include short-lived half-humans with no potential at all into the list, no matter how strong their power.
"However, speaking of devils, I wonder if I'll meet a 'familiar person'..."