After school that afternoon, Shiina needed to work on her drawings in the activity room.
Sorata accompanied Aoyama Nanami to the music department to find Misaki, who was handling the soundtrack.
The following week passed without any major events, filled instead with the usual troublesome yet interesting trivialities of daily life.
For instance, waking Shiina each morning, laying out her clothes, and letting her dress herself.
Under Sorata’s repeated guidance, she could now wash her face without soaking her clothes.
During the day, Sorata continued sleeping through classes, using most of his mental energy to deduce bloodline structures.
After school, he returned home.
While waiting for his mental strength to recover, he was often dragged into Shiina’s room to discuss her manga.
Within a few days, thanks to his targeted advice and constant revisions, Shiina improved noticeably.
At the very least, her manga no longer made readers feel drowsy at first glance.
As for the devils like Rias who had unexpectedly appeared at Suiko, Sorata only exchanged brief greetings when they crossed paths.
There was no deeper interaction.
He sensed that the other side had their own concerns or plans.
Since his thoughts were similar, both parties kept a certain distance.
However, because Rias and Akeno were strikingly beautiful, especially with figures far more mature than most high school students, they quickly became more talked about at Suiko than Shiina, whose beauty was equal but whose figure was more modest.
Their Occult Research Club received applications daily, yet no one seemed to pass the review.
Instead, it only added to the club’s air of mystery.
During this period, Sorata devoted most of his focus to bloodline deduction and paid little attention to the novel he had submitted or to his original manga plans.
The results were significant.
After extensive calculations and experiments, he extracted three fragments of genetic law information from hundreds of physical type Transcendent bloodlines he knew, all capable of integrating with the Kryptonian bloodline.
They were:
The Scorching Power of the Blazing Fire Race.
The Titanium Body Defensive Field of the Titanium Steel Giant.
The Energy Absorption and Transformation of the Mutant Havok.
According to his projections, once fused, the Scorching Power would allow Superman’s already terrifying physical attacks to carry intense burning attributes.
A single punch could reduce a target to ashes.
The Titanium Body would fundamentally alter cellular structure.
Even if he encountered something like Kryptonite that suppressed Kryptonian abilities, the sheer durability of the Titanium Body would still prevent serious harm.
Its defensive field could repel both physical and energy based attacks, tangible or intangible, including extreme attribute rays. This chapter was taken from g.com without permission.
Finally, the cosmic energy absorption and conversion ability of the Mutant Havok would reduce dependence on sunlight.
Even in places without a sun, Sorata could maintain peak condition by absorbing radiation, shockwaves, and other forms of energy.
These abilities were chosen specifically to address Superman’s weaknesses.
Though stronger options existed in his memory, the initial Kryptonian genetic framework could not support them.
Moreover, such additions could only be made at three stages: the completion of the first bloodline transformation, the second leap toward Silver Age Superman, and the third leap toward Golden Age Superman.
For now, all of this remained theoretical.
Whether conflicts or mutations would occur after true integration was uncertain.
Even if the fusion succeeded, the abilities would not become overwhelmingly powerful overnight.
Like the Kryptonian bloodline itself, they would begin at an initial stage and grow over time, though at a rapid pace.
Originally, Sorata had not prioritized strength enhancement.
With the early stage Superman bloodline, he believed he could safely enjoy life.
In his impression, this world should have been ordinary.
Even if Transcendent forces existed, they would be minor.
But after encountering Rias and witnessing the dragon that dispersed the rain clouds with a single breath, he reassessed the danger level of this world to a God Fiend tier.
In his memory, Rias Gremory from High School DxD was the younger sister of the current Satan Lucifer.
If she existed, then the Underworld, Heaven, and other divine factions must also exist.
Whether these Satans and Gods possessed world shattering power remained unknown.
Even so, caution was wiser.
He decided to prioritize strength.
“It’s almost time.”
Early Saturday morning, Sorata slowly opened his eyes in his bed at Sakurasou.
Faint shadows of complex runes faded from his pupils.
There were no classes today.
He did not need to wake Shiina.
After a simple wash, he left Sakurasou as the morning sun rose.
The Kryptonian bloodline within him was about to complete its conversion.
At the genetic level, he would fully evolve into a Kryptonian Transcendent lifeform.
At the moment of completion, the law marks within his gene sequence would adjust and restructure.
Mount Komashi, over two hundred meters tall and spanning more than ten miles, stood as a forested, sparsely visited mountain in the suburbs.
By the time Sorata got off the bus, walked through the woods, and reached the summit, it was past ten in the morning.
Under the warm sunlight, his Kryptonian cells grew even more active.
Standing quietly with eyes closed, his mental power, now five times that of an ordinary person, enveloped his entire body as he waited for the moment his bloodline would ignite.
Meanwhile, in the city, inside the Dengeki Bunko office building, the Editor in Chief responsible for the online submission section sat in her office reviewing a thick stack of printed manuscripts.
Half of it had already been read.
The cover bore the title: Toradora!
Knock knock.
“Come in.”
Her assistant, Wada Kyoko, entered with several documents.
“Senpai the publication quota for next month has been approved. This A plus level contract has been stamped with the company seal. It only requires the author’s signature.”
She hesitated.
“Senpai, are you placing too much importance on this author by going personally? I could handle the signing.”
“This quota was originally reserved by Editor Kagura from the Third Office for her author, Izumi Masamune. His Silver Wolf’s Reincarnation sold just over two hundred thousand copies, average for our house.”
“If Toradora! underperforms in comparison, it may affect your standing. Some executives have already questioned your insistence on launching the online submission section like Sanwa Bunko.”
Uemura Yuriko looked up and smiled faintly.
“Kyoko, you are thorough. But this time, I am confident.”
She glanced at the manuscript.
“I have read this submission nearly ten times. Though under one hundred thousand words, its characters are vivid, its psychological detail delicate and compelling.”
“The plot differs completely from the mainstream. There is no love at first sight between the leads. It is rare.”
She adjusted her glasses.
Her calm, intellectual aura sharpened, revealing the decisiveness of a strong leader.
“I can already see the future scale of this series.”
“Originally, we should have contacted the author last week. But to show respect, we waited.”
“Inform the staff to prepare the car. I will personally discuss the contract and publication.”
“Yes, Senpai.”