Chapter 168: Red Light Reward, Mystic Eyes of Death Perception, Central Finite Curve

T/N: I'm back, sorry for the wait.

I'm surprised those lil gremlins trying to outdrink me.

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Holding the two orbs in his hands, Haruto was on the verge of tears. This was almost as bad as if Fate Entwined could gain sentience.

Raising a March 7th wouldn't be a bad idea either!

Meeting someone? Getting entangled with someone? This kind of vague phrasing sounded exactly like something a shady fortune teller on the roadside would say.

But... well, it was still a purple-tier reward.

Haruto decided to endure it.

As for the gold-tier reward—

"Threefold Salvation."

(T/N: Revised it to a new one, the previous name was too long.)

This was an extremely powerful trait.

Upon acquiring this trait, if Haruto ever suffered a fatal injury, he would not die. Instead, he would be restored to his peak condition, with a limit of three times.

At first glance, this might seem redundant for someone like Haruto, who already possessed the Blacklight Virus and could regenerate from a single drop of blood.

However, that was far from the truth.

This trait operated on an exceptionally high conceptual level and had the potential to evolve into divinity.

It corresponded to the supreme divine concept of immortality.

Even attacks that could erase concepts entirely would be negated by this trait. As long as the attack was fatal, this trait would automatically activate.

Without hesitation, Haruto claimed the reward.

Immediately, the "Threefold Salvation" trait became an intrinsic part of him.

The Level 4 lottery results had been somewhat underwhelming, but overall, they weren't too bad.

Now, Haruto turned his attention to the Level 5 lottery.

This was where the real prizes were.

After giving Kanako a quick squeeze for good luck, Haruto pressed the draw button.

With bated breath, he watched the system panel as—

Two streaks of red light flashed across the screen.

Haruto: !!!

Overcome with excitement, Haruto grabbed Kanako and planted a kiss on her cheeks.

Kanako: Does the president have some kind of mental disorder!?!

Ignoring the dazed look in the girl's eyes, Haruto turned his gaze back to the panel.

The two red lights settled—

The rewards were revealed.

[Red Reward Obtained: Root—Mystic Eyes of Death Perception!]

[Red Reward Obtained: Multiversal—Central Finite Curve Blueprint.]

Staring at the two red-tier rewards, Haruto was completely stunned.

This reward…

This is practically soaring straight to the top!

Haruto promptly threw Kanako out of the room before extracting the rewards.

The first extraction: Root—Mystic Eyes of Death Perception.

The moment he extracted it, Haruto felt his consciousness violently assaulted by an overwhelming force.

That sensation…

Ever since he obtained the Fragment of Supreme Divinity: Intelligence, he had never experienced such a thing.

This was the first time.

Haruto's consciousness connected with the concept known as "Death."

In the next moment, when he reopened his eyes, his irises shimmered with a rainbow of dazzling colors.

Within his field of vision, countless "lines" and "points" appeared on everything around him.

These were Death Lines and Death Points, representing the very concept of death.

Haruto reached out and traced a thin line on the table in front of him. The moment his finger passed through the line—

"Crack..."

The table collapsed instantly.

Not broken, but dead.

Haruto immediately summoned the Power of the World and attempted to reverse time to restore the table.

Yet, even as time rewound, the table remained unchanged.

Because it had been killed on a conceptual level, even reversing time could not bring it back.

This was the Supreme Divinity Fragment of Death; Root—Mystic Eyes of Death Perception.

These eyes could perceive the death of everything, even concepts.

These eyes were also an absolute causality weapon, as long as he touched the Death Lines or Death Points, the corresponding entity would inevitably die.

After testing them, Haruto quickly deactivated the Mystic Eyes of Death Perception.

His eyes returned to normal, and the countless Death Lines and Death Points vanished.

Haruto slumped into his chair, breathing heavily.

While using these eyes, the concept of death in all things flooded into his awareness.

For an ordinary person, such an influx of death-related knowledge would have driven them insane in an instant.

Haruto felt grateful that he had obtained the Fragment of Intelligence beforehand.

Even so, he had no intention of keeping the Mystic Eyes of Death Perception active for long periods.

The sheer amount of conceptual information flooding his mind was too much to bear.

With this, Haruto had obtained his third Supreme Divinity Fragment, corresponding to the concept of Death.

Then, he turned his attention to his second red-tier reward.

Multiversal—Central Finite Curve.

This wasn't an ability, but a blueprint.

Following this blueprint, he could construct a mechanism that would partition an infinite multiverse. By binding select universes onto a finite curve, they would be isolated from the infinite multiverse.

Simply put, this blueprint allowed certain worlds to be grouped together, shielded from external influences.

Upon obtaining it, Haruto had no hesitation about whether to build it, only when to build it.

Once the Multiversal—Central Finite Curve was completed, it would provide immense protection for the worlds within it.

For example, it could defend against transcendent multiversal threats like the Sevenfold Destroyer.

In theory, the Sevenfold Destroyer was unstoppable, capable of infiltrating any multiversal structure.

However, if the Central Finite Curve was built, it could effectively counteract it.

By isolating finite universes from the infinite multiverse, nothing inside the curve would affect anything outside it.

Meaning, even if someone recorded information exceeding the Sevenfold's threshold, it would not attract its attention.

The only way for it to notice was if it actively invaded the Central Finite Curve. But, since unnoticed overreach doesn't trigger its response, this led to a logical paradox. Thus, the Central Finite Curve could protect its worlds from supreme multiversal threats.

This was why, despite being a blueprint, it was still classified as a red-tier reward.

"First, I need to reinforce the World Barriers before constructing the Central Finite Curve."

Haruto muttered to himself.

Holding this blueprint in his hands, he was even more excited than when he obtained the Mystic Eyes.

With it, he still couldn't defeat Supreme Divine Beings, but at least he now had a way to escape them.

However, he couldn't build it yet, not until the World Barriers were strengthened.

The "God's Eye" Project needs to be accelerated.

Despite grand plans to execute, life still moved forward day by day.

That day, Haruto personally visited Shueisha.

"Attack on Titan" was set to end this week.

Though weekly releases often required him to go out for "research," he had finally finished it.

His editor, upon receiving the final manuscript, looked nostalgic.

Recently, the Rookie of the Year award was held, but Haruto, under the pen name Izumi Takatsuki, didn't attend.

Still, his name was widely praised across the industry.

"Attack on Titan" had become an unparalleled phenomenon, shaking the world.

With film adaptations, anime deals, and merchandising offers piling up, Haruto, however, seemed utterly indifferent.

"Are you really ending it here? There's still more story to tell..."

The editor hesitated.

But Haruto simply smiled.

"Let's end it here. The mystery left behind makes it even more memorable."

Haruto didn't draw AOT all the way to its conclusion but instead chose to stop at the scene of looking at the sea.

Perhaps an uncertain future was more interesting.

Besides, the fate of the Attack on Titan world had already been altered beyond recognition.

If he were to draw out the original cruel and tragic ending, it would feel meaningless.

The editor nodded, took the final manuscript, and began uploading it.

The sudden conclusion of the manga was bound to cause an uproar in the industry.

But since the author himself didn't care, as an editor, she figured she shouldn't stress over it either.

"Izumi-sensei, about your next work..."

As usual, the editor asked about his next project, but halfway through, she let out a heavy sigh.

Would this guy really create another work?

Attack on Titan become a worldwide sensation, yet submitting weekly manuscripts had always felt like a life-or-death struggle for him...

———

However, his response surprised her.

"Oh right, aside from the final manuscript of Attack on Titan, I also brought the draft of my new work."

Haruto handed another manuscript to the editor.

The editor froze for a moment before reaching out to take it.

Upon unfolding it, the first thing that caught her eye was two words:

Demon Slayer.

Setting aside the exceptional art quality, just like his previous work, the overall standard of the new work... was incredibly high!

The editor's eyes widened in shock.

Just like before, she eagerly flipped through the pages.

"This will work! It feels like it can ride the momentum of Attack on Titan and maybe even surpass its glory!"

As she spoke, even she found it hard to believe.

She had thought that after Attack on Titan ended, no other work would be able to follow up on its success.

After all, there were too many cases of artists debuting at their peak, only to produce a string of mediocre works afterward.

But Demon Slayer... had potential!

Watching the excited editor, Haruto simply smiled.

"As long as you're happy. I'll head back now to continue working on the manuscript."

With that, Haruto turned and prepared to leave.

But before he could take more than two steps, the editor suddenly grabbed him in a chokehold.

"If you dare go on research trips every few days again, I'll hunt you down, Izumi-sensei! And I mean it!"

Haruto: Uh... this...

———

After stepping out of Shueisha, Haruto stretched lazily.

Of course, he still had to go on research trips! If an author didn't keep readers waiting, what fun would there be?

(T/N: Should I do that?)

The weather was nice today, and with nothing urgent to attend to, Haruto decided to take a stroll back to his apartment.

As he walked down the street, he passed by Japan's typical sights, JKs (high school girls), maids, cosplayers, and...

Wait a minute.

Bocchi?

Haruto suddenly reacted and turned his head toward the roadside, spotting Hitori Gotou.

At that moment, Hitori was squatting by the roadside, looking utterly drained and lifeless.

In her hands, she held two tickets.

Clearly, Kessoku Band was preparing for a performance.

And as part of the deal for performing, each member had a ticket sales quota to meet.

While she could have covered the cost herself, Kessoku Band barely had any fans. If they relied entirely on self-purchased tickets, their audience would be nonexistent.

So... Bocchi was out here trying to sell tickets, huh?