The Uninvited Gabriel

{Transitioning to Shin}

"...Feeling a bit dizzy."

Upon waking up in the morning, Shin felt like his head was in a daze, as if he had just gotten drunk.

The reason was simple. Earlier, he had tried to solidify the result of "defeating Merus" using the power of Blackbird Requiem in the mission world. The feedback he received was terrifying, almost as expected.

Simply put, relying solely on his "Ki" was absolutely not enough. It would probably cost him a significant portion of his lifespan, a vast amount of planetary energy, and some special items to make it possible.

After all, the result Shin set was "defeating Merus," which naturally included not just the Galactic Patrol version of Merus, but also his power as an apprentice angel.

At first, Shin didn't quite believe it and tried to use only the "Ki" in his body to see how far he could go—then he passed out from overexerting his "Ki."

In the Dragon Ball world, "Ki" partially reflects a person's life force. When a person dies, their "Ki" disappears as well.

By overusing his "Ki," Shin's physical state plummeted to rock bottom, causing him to lose consciousness and forcing him out of the mission world.

Although this attempt didn't yield any practical results, it at least made Shin understand that if he gathered enough resources to pay Blackbird Requiem, he could truly defeat Merus.

Now, how big is the gap between Frieza's current strength and Merus using angelic powers? Forget a single finger—Merus could probably crush Frieza from a distance with just a flick of power.

Given the cost of "defeating Merus," Shin suddenly felt that "taking out Frieza" wouldn't be such a long-term main quest after all.

He had been mentally prepared for the long haul, thinking it might take months or even longer... but now, it seemed like he could try to defeat Frieza soon.

"The cost of taking out Frieza definitely won't be small, but maybe I can try to get some things from other mission worlds to cover the 'payment.'"

As Shin thought this, he suddenly realized the usefulness of his "special mission world."

Although he couldn't stay long in the "special mission world," it was perfect if it was just for gathering resources.

Of course, even for resource gathering, he had to find worlds with special abilities.

In ordinary worlds, the resources he could get were nothing more than money or similar things, and such items were negligible when it came to paying Blackbird Requiem—they weren't even worth a sliver of Shin's "Ki."

He could only hope tomorrow would bring some worlds with special abilities or ones where it was easier to acquire powerful items... something like Doraemon, perhaps.

Shaking his head slightly, Shin felt his mind clearing up a bit.

Although he had passed out in the mission world due to the depletion of his "Ki," once he returned to the real world, his state felt refreshed and back to normal.

He sat up and looked around—only Irisviel's hands were still wrapped around his waist, as she continued to sleep soundly.

Sayu Ogiwara and Tohru were already up and likely in the kitchen preparing breakfast.

Even though there were maids in the house, anything related to Shin was something they refused to delegate to other maids, insisting on doing it themselves.

...

It was Sunday, and Shin didn't have anything else to do, so after breakfast, he did what he usually did—he logged into the online game.

Megumi Kato mentioned she would come over to Shin's house today and had already messaged him earlier. She would probably arrive around 10 AM, which meant he had about two hours to play.

As soon as he logged in, Shin, unsurprisingly, received a private message from Gabriel.

If he had to say, Gabriel was probably the girl most familiar with Shin—though their familiarity was limited to the online game, as they hadn't met many times in real life.

Healing Angel: "Finally not being a normie today? I thought you'd never play games on weekends again."

Zuke: "It was just last weekend, no need to hold a grudge over that, right?"

Although Gabriel's tone sounded teasing, Shin could sense her resentment over him not being around to play games with her on the weekend.

For someone like Gabriel, an online game addict, weekends were meant to be spent entirely in-game.

Zuke: "What about you? No part-time job this weekend? I thought Vignette would be nagging you to make money, so you'd probably be busy working."

Since Gabriel had sold the First Horn of Apocalypse to Shin, Vignette had been pressuring Gabriel to earn money to buy it back. So, Shin aspsumed Gabriel might not be online.

Healing Angel: "...It's fine, Vignette will forgive me."

It's safe to say that being doted on made Gabriel fearless. She probably knew that, while Vignette might be angry, she wouldn't actually do anything drastic, giving Gabriel the confidence to keep playing despite the pressure.

Shin almost felt bad for Vignette and considered sending her a message to tattle.

Zuke: "But I can't play for too long. I moved to a new place, and I've got a friend coming over later, so I'll have to entertain her."

Healing Angel: "What!? That still makes you a total normie!"

Gabriel was clearly unhappy about Shin neglecting her—even if that neglect was only in the game.

Healing Angel: "But wait, you're still in high school and already moved to a new place... where do you live? I want to come over and check it out!"

Zuke: "You want to come over too?"

Shin was a bit surprised. Gabriel, an online game addict, actually wanted to go out? He thought unless the internet went out or she had to buy food, Gabriel would never step outside on the weekend.

Healing Angel: "What? You know where I live, but I can't know where you live?"

Apparently dissatisfied with Shin's reaction, Gabriel's tone was even more resentful.

Although he found it odd that Gabriel wanted to come over, Shin still sent her the address.

Just as Gabriel said, since he already knew where she lived, there was no issue with her knowing where he lived.

Besides, Gabriel wasn't a bad person, and she was pretty cute too—having a cute girl wanting to come over, what reason did he have to refuse?

But now, with both Gabriel and Megumi Kato coming over today... Shin was even considering whether he should invite the Kessoku band members as well.

Then again, they might not be free, and it would be better to arrange that in advance next time. A last-minute invite felt too rushed.

To be continued…

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