“Nine hundred ninety-one…
nine hundred ninety-two…
nine hundred ninety-three…”
Still wearing his green training suit, Ron held himself above the wooden floor of his living room and continued doing push-ups.
Whenever he pushed upward, the muscles in his arms and shoulders stood out clearly beneath the sunlight.
The veins along his hands rose and fell with the rhythm of each repetition.
He counted silently as sweat streamed down his cheeks, gathering in a small puddle beneath him.
“One thousand!”
With one last burst of strength, Ron shouted the number and completed the final push-up.
Using the momentum, he snapped his hips forward and rose smoothly to his feet.
He stood there panting, unable to keep the grin from spreading across his face.
He could finally complete one thousand repetitions in a single session.
Ron checked his status screen.
[Skills: …, Basic Taijutsu (D)]
His Basic Taijutsu had first appeared on the interface two days earlier.
Now, after three days of brutal training and the final thousand push-ups, it had successfully risen from E-rank to D-rank.
Ron steadied his breathing.
“Now I can focus on something else.”
He was considering whether to work on his scripts or practice magic when several lines of text appeared before him.
[The character card’s duration has expired.
Beginning final evaluation…]
[Final Result: Roleplay Completion 100%.]
[Perfect Roleplay achieved.
All abilities from the current character card are available for selection.]
[Please choose one ability to retain.]
The three abilities appeared before him.
After a moment of thought, Ron chose the Eight Gates.
Drunken Fist came with a recovery effect and could be activated deliberately, but requiring alcohol made it far too restrictive.
Basic Taijutsu was only C-rank.
Choosing it would mostly increase his stamina and endurance, and he had no intention of continuing such extreme training for the time being.
Magic remained the dominant source of power in this world.
Physical conditioning was important, but mainly as a foundation.
Raising his Basic Taijutsu to D-rank in such a short time was already enough.
He could worry about improving it further later.
[Eight Gates (B) selected.
Integrating ability into the host’s status…]
[Eight Gates identified as a single-use ability.
Converting into a Skill Card.]
[Skill Card acquired.
Multiversal Item Storage unlocked.]
A new interface resembling a game inventory appeared before Ron.
Most of its slots were empty.
Light flashed in the first slot, revealing a B-rank Skill Card.
Ron paused, then focused on it.
Its description immediately appeared.
[Eight Gates (B): An active, single-use ability.
Upon activation, instantly doubles the user’s current total magic reserves.]
The B-rank card would not be very useful for now.
His magic reserves were so small that doubling them would hardly make a difference.
He would have to store it away and save it as an emergency trump card.
The newly unlocked Multiversal Item Storage also gave him something to consider.
Since it was an item storage system, did that mean he would eventually obtain many more single-use Skill Cards and special items?
The summoning cooldown had already ended, though, so he decided to draw first.
Whoosh—
With a thought, Ron activated the summoning pool.
The familiar animation began.
This time, a white-bordered card appeared, with a large D printed across its back.
Ron sighed.
Statistically, pulling C- and D-rank cards was perfectly normal, but part of him would always hope to hit the jackpot with every draw.
It was fine.
As long as the character card was useful, he could work with it.
The figure on the card gradually came into view.
[Character Card: Yamada Hanataro]
[World: Bleach]
[Character Ability Rank: D]
[Ability One: Magic Container (D)]
[Effect: Grants knowledge of how magic flows through the human body.
Allows the user to untangle disrupted magic container and prevent magical power from running wild or becoming blocked.]
[Ability Two: Zanpakutō — Hisagomaru (C)]
[Effect: A single-use Item Card that summons a special short sword.
Through physical contact or a suitable medium, Hisagomaru can absorb another person’s external injuries and convert them into stored energy.
Once fully charged, it can release a single powerful energy slash equal to the total damage absorbed.]
Ron’s face brightened.
At least this time, he could roleplay someone who dressed relatively normally!
After reading the abilities, however, he found the draw somewhat disappointing.
Magic Container could be useful at his current level, but Hisagomaru would probably end up sitting in storage as another emergency trump card.
A D-rank card not only provided fewer abilities than a C-rank card, but also made them harder to obtain permanently.
Since it contained only two abilities, Ron would have to reach fifty percent and one hundred percent roleplay completion to unlock them.
Still, there was no point feeling discouraged.
He could not choose what the summoning pool gave him.
He would simply spend these three days writing scripts and practicing magic.
Whatever he drew, he would find a way to use it.
Ron equipped the card.
Once it merged with his body, a new problem immediately occurred to him.
For his previous two outfits, he had bought clothes from the same woman at the flea market.
This time, however, Hanatarō’s loose, robe-like uniform would probably be much harder to find ready-made.
‘Maybe I should start asking her to make custom costumes for me.’
…
One hour later, in Fairy Tail’s library—
Ron entered with both arms filled with books, using his chin to steady the towering stack.
As expected, the flea market had not carried anything resembling a proper Shihakushō, so he had settled for a similar-looking black robe.
He carefully lowered the books onto the counter and discovered that Vee, who usually worked at the bar, was overseeing the library that day.
“Vee-san, you’re on library duty today?”
“That’s right.
And speaking of which, I still need to thank you for helping Laki.”
Ron had only learned the day after returning Laki home that she was one of Vee’s distant relatives.
They both had purple hair, but he never would have made the connection on his own.
When Laki’s parents arrived that night, they had not scolded her.
Ron had already left by then, so they had given Vee a letter thanking him instead.
After chatting about Laki for a while, Ron headed toward the shelves containing books on magic.
This time, he was searching for material on increasing his magic reserves.
Since the character card had given him knowledge of magic container, he wanted a theoretical book that would complement it.
He scanned the shelves until a title caught his eye.
“The Compatibility Between the Body and Magic Power.
This should do.”
Pleased, Ron reached for the book.
Just as his fingers touched its spine, another hand landed on it at the exact same moment.
Ron paused and looked toward the other person.
It was a blond boy with sharply spiked hair and a prominent cross-shaped scar over his right eye.
A pair of distinctive headphones with round metal studs rested over his ears.
Laxus frowned and fixed Ron with a piercing stare.
“Hey.
I don’t know who you are, but I’m taking this book.”