Inside a dimly lit room, a bright grin spread across Uesugi Ryu's face, he could hardly suppress his delight. After working tirelessly for so long, the harvest had finally arrived.
[Congratulations, Host has become a Second-Class Investigator (Formerly: Third-Class Investigator)!]
[Rewards obtained: 2 Attribute Points, 2 Lottery Draws]
Adding in the previous draw he'd earned, Ryu now had three lottery chances in total.
Clasping his hands together, Ryu offered a silent prayer to the goddess of luck, hoping she'd bless him with a powerful combat skill this time.
The system's lottery only displayed the final results directly, and this air of uncertainty made the entire process all the more exciting, a strange blend of tension and thrill.
[Would you like to perform a lottery draw? Yes/No]
"Yes!"
[Congratulations, Host has obtained C-Rank Skill: Blood Frenzy!]
A torrent of battle experience related to the skill surged into Uesugi Ryu's mind.
Thankfully, thanks to his high Intelligence stat and the prior experience of learning Phantom Clone, he was able to quickly digest the flood of new information.
[Blood Frenzy: Consumes mana to enchant a weapon. Mana consumption rate: 6 points per minute.]
[Effect 1: Wounds inflicted while enchanted are difficult to heal and cause continuous bleeding. The effect duration depends on the opponent's ability to resist foreign energy.]
[Effect 2: Slight increase in weapon sharpness.]
Upon reading the description, Ryu's heart leapt with joy.
"This skill is practically designed for exterminating ghouls!"
One of the most troublesome aspects of ghouls was their incredible regenerative abilities. Ordinary injuries were meaningless.
But Blood Frenzy changed the game, it transformed mana into a special energy that embedded itself into a wound, preventing regeneration by clinging to the injury.
RC cells inside a ghoul's body might be able to resist this foreign energy...
But what about humans?
Or half-humans who had no usable RC cells?
The average person had an RC value so low it was practically negligible, and entirely unusable.
Ryu's lips curved into a sly smile. Something told him this skill had far more potential than the description implied.
[Congratulations, Host has obtained F-Rank Skill: Culinary Mastery!]
[Congratulations, Host has obtained E-Rank Item: Calming Potion (Restores 50 mana points)]
"Culinary Mastery? So the system has life skills too? Heh, wouldn't be surprised if I end up drawing something like enchanted underwear next..."
He let out a wry laugh. Still, it wasn't entirely useless.
At least now he wouldn't have to suffer through more "Japanese-style Chinese food", which, to him, was a culinary disaster. Sushi, sashimi, he simply couldn't get used to the taste.
He activated Blood Frenzy, or rather, began testing it. After all, this wasn't a game. He had merely learned the basics; mastering it would take trial and error.
As the mana within him transformed, a blood-red aura wrapped around the blade of Saki kage. Ryu stood still, observing the flow of mana within his body.
He had tried manipulating his mana before, but no matter how hard he concentrated, it never did anything.
Now, with Blood Frenzy, the mana shifted, no longer pale blue, but deep crimson. He tested the skill a few more times before dismissing it and storing his Quinque back in his inventory space.
Then came the familiar routine, allocating attribute points.
"I, Uesugi Ryu, have gotten this far on my own merit. Deep Blue, allocate the points!"
That familiar surge of power coursed through him. Once he acclimated to it, he opened his status panel:
---
Name: Uesugi Ryu
Race: Human
Overall Rating: A+ (Based on the four base stats only; weapons and skills excluded)
Strength: 8 (B+)
Agility: 12 (S)
Constitution: 9 (C+) (+1 from equipment)
Intelligence: 8 (B+) (Each point = 10 Mana)
Mana: 124
HP: 90 (Normal healthy male = base 5; point increases are exponential, not additive)
Talents: Soul Devourer (Devour the soul of a slain target to gain permanent Mana Points.)
Skills:
D-Rank Skill: Phantom Clone
C-Rank Skill: Blood Frenzy
Energy: 21/100
Items:
The Pharmacist's Treasure
B-Rank Quinque: Viper
A-Rank Quinque: Saki kage
Calming Potion
---
Ryu originally wanted to dump all his points into Agility. After all, if things went south, being able to run away fast was the best tactic. But when he tried it, the system issued a warning:
[No single attribute (except Intelligence) may exceed the lowest attribute by more than 4 points.]
So min-maxing wasn't allowed after all. Strength, Speed, and Constitution weren't isolated, they had to remain within a certain balance. Begrudgingly, Ryu adjusted his points accordingly.
He then closed his eyes, standing silently, feeling the mana within him. Ever since acquiring Blood Frenzy, he noticed that his control over his mana had grown sharper.
Curious to test his abilities, he made his way to the bathroom. The moment he stepped inside, the bright lights clicked on, and the mirror reflected his handsomely sharp features.
Focusing, he began channeling mana to his face.
And suddenly, a sudden transformation came about.
His sleek black hair turned snow-white. His eyes subtly shifted in size and proportion. Slowly, his reflection morphed into the face of Mado Kureo.
"Well, I'll be damned.. There really is no such thing as a useless skill."
Ryu stroked his chin.
If he could freely create illusions, could he perhaps also project the environment around him onto his own body and achieve a form of camouflage?
...
[News Broadcast - Three Days Ago]
"Today in the 20th Ward, a construction site accident occurred, steel reinforcement beams fell unexpectedly and struck two students."
"The female student died at the scene while the male student suffered massive organ damage and was rushed to Kanou General Hospital for emergency surgery."
"Dr. Kanou Akihiro, without the family's consent, transplanted the deceased student's organs into the boy..."
"This act has caused considerable public outcry. We've brought in a legal consultant to comment-"
Click.
The screen went black. Ryu had turned off the TV.
"So... the tragic misadventures of that poor bastard Kaneki have finally begun."
He let out a soft sigh.
"I'd originally planned to meet him one last time. Too bad."
Ryu had chosen not to interfere with the incident. There was no real reason to do so.
Sure, as a fan of the manga, he had a certain fondness for Kaneki Ken, but that didn't mean he had to orbit around him.
Killing Yamori would've been the one favor he could offer as a "cheap friend."
Besides, Kaneki was vital to the One-Eyed King Project. His personality, molded in part by Yoshimura Kuzen, helped steer the plan toward success.
The whole project was basically a good cop, bad cop routine.
Only, in this case, there were two bad cops: Takatsuki Sen (Yoshimura Eto), who represented ghoul terror toward humans, and Arima Kishou, who inflicted fear on ghouls from the human side.
Then, they'd introduce a man-made ghoul with overwhelming power and a unique identity to play mediator, the "good cop." The goal behind it being the reconciliation and coexistence between humans and ghouls.
Kaneki, the "King," was the centerpiece. The others, the Yasuhisa sisters, Takizawa Seidou, Amon Koutarou, they were just pieces supporting the king: rooks, knights, bishops.
Ryu had no such ambition to save the world, after all, in the end, he was an outsider, through and through.
"No use thinking about it too hard. I might as well go find a 'friendly' ghoul to test out my new skill."
With that, Ryu gave a low chuckle, his eyes glowing faintly red.