A few minutes later, in the basement of the Matou Residence.
It was a space that exuded an indescribable sense of gloom.
Square niches were carved into the four walls, each housing a grotesquely shaped sculpture.
Upon closer inspection, numerous tiny holes could be seen in the corners of the niches and the shadows of the statues, with all sorts of insects crawling in and out.
The basement was impossibly large, spanning nearly half the size of a football field horizontally and rising three or four stories high, necessitating a long flight of stairs at the entrance to allow normal access.
At the top of the stairs.
Zouken Matou looked down at the figure that had appeared out of nowhere to catch his granddaughter—who had just been adopted into his name—after he had dropped her.
A sharp, piercing light flickered in his sunken sockets.
“I was so intoxicated by the joy of the Matou bloodline continuing that I lost my composure and failed to notice a distinguished guest’s arrival.
Please forgive my rudeness.”
“This kind of hospitality…
being a ‘distinguished guest’ of the Matou family is truly an unfortunate thing.”
Byakuya let out a click of his tongue, slightly lifting one foot and then stamping it down.
Pausing, he looked at the little girl who was clinging tightly to his arm, clearly still shaken from the ordeal.
He added, “Oh, it seems you’re not just bad to your guests; you’re not much better to your family.”
“I do not believe there was anything improper about the hospitality provided to a ‘guest’ who appears directly inside my workshop,” Zouken chuckled.
He sensed that in the instant the man’s foot hit the ground, every insect within a radius of several meters had been obliterated by an invisible force.
He hadn’t expected them to handle an intruder who could silently bypass the barriers and the surveillance insects he had placed throughout the residence.
Suddenly, as if discovering something incredible, he asked in surprise, “You aren’t a magus?”
“Even from this distance, I can ‘smell’ the decay of time’s erosion on you.
You’re old, but your eyesight hasn’t failed you,” Byakuya nodded, admitting, “To you people, the current me is indeed still just an ordinary person.”
Deep within his consciousness, a panel that only he could “see” manifested according to his will.
[Unity of Heaven and Man (Purple) (—/—)] [AFK…
(Click to claim growth points)]
[Meditation (Lv.7) (—/—)] [AFK…
(Click to claim proficiency points)]
[Hundred Arts (Lv.7) (—/—)] [AFK…
(Click to claim proficiency points)]
[Multilingualism (Lv.7) ( / )]
This was his “cheat” for surviving in this world—an AFK-style Trait System.
The system interface was divided into two sections.
The first was [Talent], where the quality was indicated by colors: White, Green, Blue, Purple, and so on.
The second was [Ability], where the level was displayed numerically: Lv.0, Lv.1, Lv.2…
Byakuya’s first three traits had been derived through focus and self-visualization.
There was [Meditation], [Hundred Arts]—a fusion of the various martial arts he had encountered through different channels in his previous world—and [Multilingualism], which unified his native tongue with the fragmented English and Japanese he had picked up in and out of the classroom.
After more than three years since his transmigration, both [Meditation] and [Hundred Arts] had risen to Lv.7.
In doing so, he had touched upon a profound, mystical realm.
To borrow a phrase from the ancients: “Heaven and Earth are born with me, and all things are one with me.” That state of being eventually solidified into the Talent trait [Unity of Heaven and Man].
From then on, [Unity of Heaven and Man] replaced the now-sufficient [Multilingualism], occupying one of the three AFK slots alongside [Meditation] and [Hundred Arts] to automatically accumulate growth and proficiency.
Between the Lv.7 [Hundred Arts] and the state of [Unity of Heaven and Man], Byakuya had pushed his martial arts into the transcendent realm.
Had he not reached this level, he would never have dared step into the Mage’s Workshop of Zouken Matou—a magus who had lived for five hundred years—to stage a rescue.
However, by the standards of the Nasuverse’s mystic side, he was not a magus.
He had arrived via physical transmigration and possessed no Magic Circuits within his body.
“I didn’t expect a martial artist like you to be born in this era,” Zouken Matou remarked, his voice filled with admiration after receiving the confirmation he sought.
“What a pity…
a pity that this era no longer provides the soil a martial artist needs to thrive.
Had you been born a few decades earlier, your skill would have surely made you as famous as the ‘Six-Harmony Divine Spear’.”
“Who can say for sure?” Byakuya replied with an indifferent shrug.
“True.”
Zouken paused, then nodded slowly.
“Someone who has polished their arts to such a degree is hardly something a mere ‘era’ can limit.
I was being narrow-minded.”
After this moment of self-deprecation, he continued, “You mentioned earlier that you are ‘currently just an ordinary person.’ Does that mean that as a martial artist, you aren’t opposed to ‘Mystery’?”
“From my own experience, the ceiling of Mystery is clearly higher than that of martial arts…
at least higher than the heights I could reach through martial arts alone in a short amount of time.”
Byakuya’s lips twitched as he recalled the golden wolf he had encountered in City D a few years ago.
In its base form, the creature had been a match for him, even with his Lv.7 [Hundred Arts] and the state of [Unity of Heaven and Man] allowing him to channel the momentum of heaven and earth.
Worse still, beyond its base form, it had second and third stages, as well as a grotesque final transformation.
“Besides,” Byakuya added, “Mystery and martial arts aren’t fundamentally incompatible.
In fact, even a superficial application of magecraft can significantly enhance the power of my martial arts.
Why would I resist something so useful?”
“I am glad to hear you think that way,” Zouken chuckled.
“I don’t know if you’ve heard whispers of my work from elsewhere, but as a matter of fact, I do have some insights into ‘how ordinary people can step into the world of Mystery’.”
“If your ‘insights’ involve putting things like these into my body…”
Byakuya shifted his footing, releasing a burst of force.
A sculpture in a nearby niche shattered, revealing the remains of a Crest Worm that had been shaken to death by the shockwave.
“Then I think I’ll pass.”
“For a moment, I truly didn’t know whether to say you understand us magi too well, or not at all.”
Zouken shook his head and explained, “Since you are familiar with Mystery and do not resist its power, yet have not stepped into this world, it simply means you likely lack the innate aptitude to become even a low-grade magus.
In such a case, the only way to touch Mystery is through unconventional means.
Compared to my ‘colleagues,’ my methods are relatively mild.”
“I won’t even ask what your criteria for ‘mild’ are.” Byakuya frowned, glancing at the corpses of the Crest Worms on the floor.
“Regardless, in terms of personal preference, your bugs are at the very bottom of my list.”
“In that case, I suppose we cannot end this peacefully today,” Zouken sighed.
As soon as the words left his lips, the wall behind Byakuya exploded.
A multi-legged giant insect, three or four meters tall, charged at him like a living war chariot.