Randomly Traversing Worlds

Utaha Kasumigaoka had moved into the villa. Her rented apartment lease happened to be expiring, so she took the chance to cancel it altogether.

Unlike Kato Megumi, Utaha Kasumigaoka had been living alone, so when Eriri invited her, she agreed without hesitation.

However, upon entering what could only be called a grand estate, she was completely stunned by the scenery inside.

Inside the estate, it was as if she had stepped into another world; the cherry blossoms outside had mostly withered, but here, along both sides of the path leading to the villa, the cherry blossoms were in full bloom. The path itself was almost a trail of fallen petals.

When she finally saw the grand castle-like villa, she began to understand what it meant to be a member of the wealthy elite.

A welcoming atmosphere awaited Utaha Kasumigaoka , and none of the others, including Arifureta, Shea, Kanae, or Akino Yukinoshita, paid any mind to Eriri's unexplained night away.

For most of them, it was their first time meeting Utaha Kasumigaoka , and they quickly learned about her relationship with Eriri. Most of them regarded her with a bit of envy, especially Akino Yukinoshita, who'd always privately called Eriri her "wife" but somehow became tongue-tied when actually trying to pursue her.

Even Kanae's relationship with Eriri had been growing closer lately, while Akino remained stagnant in her progress. Her system assistant had already lost patience, suggesting various ways to win Eriri over, but none had worked against Akino's timidity.

Seeing the many beauties of varying ages in the villa, Utaha Kasumigaoka felt slightly complicated. Originally, she thought only Arifureta and the others were close to Eriri, but the actual situation had turned out to be several times more extensive. Nonetheless, she had no regrets and felt ahead of most of the group.

Thus, Utaha Kasumigaoka officially became part of the family. After her initial adjustment, she gradually grew familiar with Lala and the others, and she learned about their identities: an angel, a vampire and other figures from legend. She was amazed and curious about the multiverse and the chat group, with all the opportunities to visit other worlds.

Even now, having become a Level 2 Peak Transcendent, stronger than all awakened superhumans, she hadn't given up on her writing career. One benefit of being a Transcendent was that she could stay up all night without falling asleep in class the next day.

After learning Utaha Kasumigaoka had moved in, Megumi Kato seemed a bit flustered, spending more time convincing her parents to let her move out. She could feel their stance softening and guessed they would soon agree.

As time passed, all the group members saw significant progress. Aside from the last two additions, Haramura and Rias, everyone had reached Level 4. Even Kaguya Shinomiya, who had received a one-million-point gift from Eriri, had achieved Level 4. It had depleted her points, though.

As for Jibril, she'd broken through to Continental Level strength with Eriri's help, achieving the strength required of a well-kept pet.

It had been over a month since the first superhuman emerged. By now, all kinds of superpowers had emerged: elemental powers, various special abilities, mental powers like telekinesis, and even spatial abilities. However, spatial and mental abilities were rare, with most people gaining physical strengthening, like that thugs Eriri had previously disposed of.

Physical strengthening could lead to immense power with training, but it fell short of the elemental, mental, and spatial powers.

At first, governments could control the emergence of superhumans, but as their numbers grew, control weakened. Fortunately, the government had prepared in advance, so society's order remained intact. However, countless superhuman organizations emerged, with some rivaling national power.

By now, people hardly blinked if someone flew in the sky or jumped unharmed from a tall building.

Interestingly, Eriri's classmates Kiyo Ishimaki and Azusa Satomi, her earliest friends, also awakened powers.

Many low-level businesses were affected. Without superhuman protection, many businesses became easy targets for low-level criminals. Strangely, some criminals grew arrogant enough to set their sights on Eriri or even the Sawamura conglomerate, only to face grim consequences. Those who dared challenge the Sawamura family met a swift and brutal end, wiped out entirely. The Sawamura family's power made clear that "Your father is still your father."

If the Sawamura conglomerate had been considered among the world's top in power before, it now stood at the peak.

[Kaguya Shinomiya (Level 4, Stage 2): From today on, I'm the new head of the Shinomiya family!]

[Chika Fujiwara (Level 4, Stage 4): Eh?! When did this happen? Why didn't I know about it?]

[Kaguya Shinomiya (Level 4, Stage 2): It's normal that you didn't know, right?!]

[Chika Fujiwara (Level 4, Stage 4): Aw, Kaguya-chan, you should've invited me to something this fun…]

[Yuuki Asuna (Level 4, Stage 4): Kaguya, congrats!]

[Ruri Gokou (Level 4, Stage 2): Congrats, congrats.]

[Arifureta (Level 4, Stage 8/Group Leader): Congrats.]

[Eriri (Level 8, Stage 6): Congrats.]

...

[Kaguya Shinomiya (Level 4, Stage 2): Thank you, everyone.]

Kaguya Shinomiya smiled, pleased. She had barely attended school for two weeks, fully focused on strengthening herself to keep up with the others. After exhausting all her points, she reached Level 4, Stage 2, and further stabilized her strength through training in the group's sparring area.

Her long absence from school had caught the attention of the Shinomiya family. Her father, Shinomiya Zaibatsu, personally called to check, only for Kaguya to ignore him. Feeling challenged, Shinomiya Zaibatsu ordered agents to bring her back, but normal humans couldn't contend with a Continental-level Transcendent like Kaguya.

After dealing with them, she went straight to the Shinomiya mansion, taking control without resistance. As expected, her father wasn't angry, only pleased. To him, any means was valid if it elevated the Shinomiya family. The failed Shinomiya siblings Seiryū Shinomiya and Un'yo Shinomiya only felt frustration, but they could do nothing but accept it.

Over half a month had passed since the last group members joined, with no sign of new invitations. Even the longest previous gap had only been ten days.

But Eriri didn't plan to interfere, seeing this as an opportunity to explore other worlds. Attending school didn't hold her interest.

Eriri chose not to visit worlds where other group members were. Instead, she wanted to try her luck and see if she might stumble upon any familiar anime world from the countless universes out there.

Setting no destination, Eriri opened a random world portal leading to the unknown. She crossed through, appearing in mid-air over a planet.

This rocky planet had no water source and no trace of life; gravity was dozens of times stronger than Earth's, and surface temperatures reached hundreds of degrees Celsius, as if the planet were a massive furnace.

But none of this affected Eriri. Instead of landing, she broke through the atmosphere, entering the universe. Her cosmic-level perception swept across the universe. In mere minutes, she understood it completely; unfortunately, no intelligent life existed in it.

She opened another world portal, entering another unknown universe.

This second universe was worse than the first, with only a few scattered planets floating among countless fragments. Clearly, it had been ravaged by a powerful being(s).

Leaving it behind, she entered a third universe.

Finally, she found numerous life-filled planets and even located the Milky Way. This universe, too, had Earth, but in this timeline, Earth remained in the dinosaur era, inhabited by enormous creatures.

Evidently, this was not her destination either.

Continuing her journey, Eriri entered countless diverse universes.

The fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh…

After seventeen worlds with no familiar setting, Eriri almost lost interest in this blind exploration. But, on her eighteenth try, she finally found a somewhat recognizable world.

The eighteenth universe, like many of the others, had various civilizations. Unlike the others, this universe's Earth had already reached the 21st century. It was a regular world, much like her original world, with no supernatural elements. After scanning Earth's inhabitants, she found no recognizable characters.

However, she discovered an Earth-like planet on the opposite end of this universe connected to Earth in some inexplicable way.

Curious, Eriri descended upon this other world. When she saw a young, sickly girl with blue hair, she knew exactly where she was.

This world was home to a nation called Yurgenschmidt, built in a massive desert surrounded by high walls. Its society was built around magic, with magical crops requiring magical power to grow. Most people with magic were nobles.

Eriri also sensed unique life forms on this planet, all dormant yet each possessing power beyond Level 4, likely the so-called "gods" of this world. Her presence went unnoticed by them, and she had no intention of causing trouble unless provoked.

Eriri then arrived at the northeastern border of Yurgenschmidt, near the city of Ehrenfest, which was divided into commoner and noble districts—a stark contrast.

The commoners lived in crowded stone buildings with narrow streets lined with garbage, and foul smells lingered in the air. The wealthier commoners lived in a separate section, somewhat more refined.

Eriri's goal here was the blue-haired girl named Myne.

Yes, this was indeed the world of Ascendance of a Bookworm.

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