Sometimes, minor details can determine many things, especially concerning Time travel, a matter involving temporal displacement.
For example, the era of arrival.
At this time, Rin arrived in akame ga kill just as the future Imperial Grand General Budo was young and about to truly enter military service, 26 years before the official start of the akame ga kill plot, when Tatsumi arrived in the Imperial Capital in Imperial Year 1024!
"Oh dear, no matter how I think about it, God has truly given me a big vacation."
Rin, dressed in a Black and red Imperial Military Academy student uniform, lay idly on her dorm bed, covering her face with a military textbook she had been flipping through. The content was about terrain reconnaissance, but Rin could recite every word of it perfectly.
"Clap."
She casually closed the book in her hand and tossed it aside, resting her chin on her hand, lost in thought.
"This is good, it suits me perfectly. Constantly thinking about the plot's direction and treading on thin ice with every step is truly enough. Instead of thinking about how to make the plot change according to my ideas, why not enact a story of my own in this world! Let me have a happy romp here."
Unconsciously, a mischievous, childish smile appeared on Rin's lips.
At this time, the Empire was not yet the corrupt, aging entity it would become in the future. The current Emperor was still the Old Emperor from the original work/canon, and the position of Minister was held by the virtuous and benevolent Minister Qiao Li. Onest, this person, Rin, who had been at the Imperial Military Academy for a year since arriving in the Imperial Capital, had not yet heard of.
The Empire at this time also differed from the depiction in the original work/canon as a world-dominating power; it faced severe external threats from Native on its borders.
The Native of the far northern snowy regions and the Barbarians in the southern jungles were the Empire's main external threats. For food and resources, they would raid, kill, and plunder the Empire's borders every year. To the west of the Empire, there was also the Western Kingdom, which had split off from an internal rebellion four hundred years prior. Although it had always been at peace with the Empire, to prevent it from taking advantage during the Empire's conflicts with external enemies, the Empire had to dispatch heavy troops to guard it, greatly tying up the Empire's military strength.
"A nation fraught with external threats will naturally unite against them. This doesn't align with the outcome I desire. Although I don't know who pacified all of this in the original work/canon, since I'm here, let me have a good time! Hahahahaha…"
After arriving in this world, Rin decided to join the Imperial military. This was a lingering wish left by the original Tohsaka Rin in this world and also aligned with Rin's own will. She decided to ascend to the highest echelons of Imperial power, making it easier for her to guide this nation towards its end.
Speaking of which, Rin, in her previous life, always felt a strong sense of incongruity when watching the akame ga kill anime: why did the Imperial military's promotion speed seem like flying? Esdeath became a General before the age of 24, and Najenda also became a General at a similar age. To start as a low-level soldier and climb through a dozen ranks, even with one promotion per year starting at age 15, wouldn't be enough!
And when Rin learned about the existence of the Imperial Military Academy, she finally understood. This was a fast-track factory for officers; as long as one met the corresponding qualifications, they could be directly appointed to higher ranks. This was also to meet the Empire's need for military talent. Najenda and Esdeath had clearly entered the academy under the recommendation of military generals, graduated as the top students of their respective classes, directly becoming Brigadier Generals, and then further advanced to become Generals.
With Rin's Magician-level brain memory and calculation abilities, the theoretical knowledge at the Imperial Military Academy was completely insufficient. After less than a year, there was truly nothing left to learn, so Rin directly applied for early graduation. However, unexpectedly, there was a very interesting character among her During the same period graduates.
Budo.
This was probably the first important character from the original work/canon Rin encountered after arriving in this world. Rin had not expected that she would become a contemporary of Budo and ultimately compete for the top student qualification.
At the Imperial Military Academy, there was also a historical rule: anyone whose scores could break the all-time record could directly choose an Imperial Arms from the Imperial Treasury and be appointed as a General!
The Imperial Military Academy's all-time best record was set by an ancestor of the Bu Family three hundred years ago, and Rin's perfect score in all 37 subjects undoubtedly challenged this record. As long as she achieved a complete victory in the final martial arts competition, she could directly become a General.
"I heard Budo was called home by his father. I'm afraid the Bu Family won't just stand by and watch me step on their faces to reach the top. They're probably going to give Budo their family's Imperial Arms. But it doesn't matter. They can use whatever tricks they want; the outcome is already decided," Rin muttered to herself, pouting slightly, a hint of displeasure in her voice.
About a thousand years ago, to maintain long-term rule, the Empire's founding emperor, with unimaginable financial and political power, gathered the world's top craftsmen. Using legendary Super Danger Beast species as materials, along with rare metals like orichalcum and a large number of lost secret techniques, they developed forty-eight unique, unreproducible weapons, which they called "Imperial Arms."
Imperial Arms are mainly composed of three elements: body materials from legendary Super Danger Beasts; rare metals like orichalcum; and the top-tier craftsmanship, including many lost secret techniques, of the highest-level artisans gathered from around the world.
The Danger Beast materials imbue Imperial Arms with special abilities, giving them powers equal to or even exceeding those of Danger Beasts; rare metals shape their prototypes, making Imperial Arms' quality far superior to ordinary weapons, and they cannot be destroyed by normal means; the highest-level artisans then use their uncanny skill to perfectly fuse the materials with the metals, forging forty-eight weapons of immense power.
The akame ga kill world clearly has no magic, only blood and blades, but this world does have various Danger Beasts, and what gives them their abilities are the materials from those legendary Super Danger Beast species. In other words, Imperial Arms are like alchemical enchanted weapons, but the only difference between the two is that enchanted weapons are imbued with magic, while Imperial Arms are imbued with the abilities of legendary Super Danger Beast species.
The forty-eight Imperial Arms are equivalent to forty-eight weapon beasts. Among them, there are even Imperial Arms that can withstand a thousand, possessing nuclear bomb-like combat power.
More than half of these Imperial Arms were lost in the civil war that split the Western Kingdom four hundred years ago. Today, only a few remain in the hands of the Imperial Royal Family.
With Rin's strength, she naturally wouldn't fear the Imperial Arms in this world. Compared to the noble phantasms of the Heroic Spirits in the Type-Moon World, which are the highest fantasy armaments constructed from the fantasies of all humanity, Imperial Arms truly don't measure up.
"Dong dong dong!"
Just then, a knock sounded on Rin's dorm room door.
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