Two months ago, his accumulated sign-in reward had been the Six Powers training method.
Now, after another two months of accumulation, Matthew briefly considered it before activating the reward again.
Ding—Accumulated 60-day sign-in reward activated. Congratulations, you have obtained: Devil Fruit Encyclopedia.
The cold metallic voice echoed in his mind, and Matthew slightly frowned.
Devil Fruit Encyclopedia?
So he really was becoming more and more tightly bound to the world of One Piece?
He silently complained inwardly for a moment before shifting his attention to the new reward.
[Devil Fruit Encyclopedia: Contains records of 141 Devil Fruits across the Logia, Zoan, and Paramecia types. Devil Fruits can be created by absorbing the souls of demons. . (Note: The stronger the Devil Fruit, the higher the required quality of the demon's soul.)]
Reading the description, Matthew paused slightly, then fell into thought.
This was far better than he had expected.
After all, being able to create something that did not originally belong to this universe from nothing was already an extraordinary ability in itself.
Among those 141 fruits were many powerful abilities. Once consumed, they could grant corresponding powers—some with terrifying destructive force, others with reality-defying, rule-based abilities.
The price required was the soul of a "demon," which ironically aligned with the idea that Devil Fruits themselves contained the will of demons. In a way, it was a fitting and reasonable exchange.
In simple terms, if he wanted Devil Fruits, he would need to actively hunt demons and allow the Encyclopedia to absorb their souls in exchange.
However, even the most powerful Devil Fruits did not necessarily allow someone to reach truly godlike heights.
Take his own Glint-Glint Fruit, for example—could it really achieve true light-speed movement?
Or the Rumble-Rumble Fruit—could it truly evolve into electromagnetic manipulation, or even extend into the spectrum of light itself?
Not necessarily.
And the limitation was not simply a lack of knowledge for development.
More importantly, it was about control and computational capacity.
Even with sufficient theoretical knowledge, he could not push the Glint-Glint Fruit to an absurd level because his brain simply could not handle the required processing load.
Without enough mental "computation power," he could not support highly complex extensions of ability development.
During this period, he had also studied theories related to light. While experimenting with the Glint-Glint Fruit, he even tried integrating concepts such as light polarization, electromagnetic interference, and quantum properties.
But the moment he attempted it, he immediately realized his brain simply could not support that level of calculation.
It was somewhat similar to a certain scientific theory involving electromagnetic abilities—the idea that ability development and computational power were linked. To refine abilities to a precise degree, the brain itself had to be capable of sufficient processing power.
Unless the brain was supported by something equivalent to a supercomputer, many Devil Fruit abilities, no matter how promising they seemed, were ultimately capped by their inherent limitations.
Still, Matthew was not disappointed.
At the very least, the potential for growth existed. As his life level continued to evolve, his mental processing ability would naturally improve as well. Perhaps even the system itself would bring further surprises in the future.
As for Devil Fruits themselves, Matthew was quite interested.
After all, the system had granted him the Glint-Glint Fruit ability—but not by making him eat a Devil Fruit. That raised an interesting question.
Could he eat a second Devil Fruit?
There were plenty of powerful Devil Fruits in existence—the Gum-Gum Fruit's ultimate Nika form, the Door-Door Fruit with its spatial manipulation, the Op-Op Fruit with its extraordinary utility, the Fish-Fish Fruit: Azure Dragon form, the Tremor-Tremor Fruit, and many more.
Logically speaking, he felt it should be possible.
After all, the Encyclopedia already contained Logia-type fruits like his own Glint-Glint Fruit.
As for whether he would actually consume a second Devil Fruit—that was a question for the future.
The appearance of the Devil Fruit Encyclopedia also greatly increased the feasibility of another plan he had been considering.
He wanted to build a team—or rather, a force—entirely under his control.
At his core, he was not a solitary ascetic, nor was he someone naturally inclined toward isolation. Compared to walking a lonely path toward godhood, he preferred the idea of changing the fates of others while growing stronger himself.
Of course, that was only under one condition:
Everything had to be guided by his will.
The only problem now was that he needed demon souls.
And the question was—where exactly was he supposed to find those?
In this universe, Hell was a real concept. Demons existed within the Hell dimension, a vast plane composed of countless overlapping realms.
Powerful demons ruled over individual dimensions within it, known as Hell Lords. Every one of them was immensely powerful.
Although there were differences in strength among them, they all belonged to the same tier as beings at the level of Skyfathers.
Earth was a very special planet. While human civilization was considered low-tier in the cosmos, the species itself—and the nature of Earth—were unusual.
Because of that, demons were especially fond of descending upon Earth. They fed on human flesh and souls, delighted in manipulating human nature, emotions, and even the soul itself.
However, due to the separation between dimensions—and the existence of a hidden alliance of sorcerers protecting Earth—demons could not easily set foot on the planet. If they were discovered by the sorcerers, the best outcome was being forcibly expelled back to Hell, and the worst… complete annihilation.
Even knowing the risks, demons were still irresistibly drawn to Earth. They used conduits and gateways to sow fear among humans, achieving their goals through indirect means.
Some were even bold enough to smuggle themselves in outright—driven purely by greed and a disregard for their own survival.
However, locating and hunting such demons was far from easy.
Matthew's eyes shifted slightly as he fell into thought. At that moment, a ringing sound suddenly broke his concentration.
He casually took out his phone and answered.
Neagley's voice came through.
"Boss, Reacher is in trouble."
...
Inside a sealed interrogation room, the metal walls showed signs of age and corrosion. A long fluorescent tube light hung from the ceiling, illuminating the space with a harsh, clinical brightness.
The room contained only a simple rectangular metal table and two chairs.
Reacher, a large and imposing man, sat in one of them. He was dressed in a black sweater, brown jacket, and jeans. His hands and feet were shackled, and his face bore cuts, dried blood, and dust—clear signs he had been in a fight.
Despite this, his expression remained calm and steady, as if he had no fear of what was about to come.
Then, with a sound of movement, the sealed metal door opened. Three figures walked in.
The leader wore a black tactical suit, stubble on his face, and a close-cropped blond haircut. A gray scarf was wrapped around his neck. The two men beside him wore similar outfits and carried themselves with sharp, military-trained precision.
"Jack Reacher. Age 38. Graduate of West Point Military Academy. Skilled in all types of weaponry, close-quarters combat, forensic medicine, and criminal investigation."
"Transferred into the military police, underwent strict training, and handled everything from general duties and classified security operations to homicide investigations over a thirteen-year career."
"Retired at 36 with the rank of Major. After retirement, he drifted without a fixed residence, frequently staying in museums and bars. He enjoys blues music, travels by bus and train, and stays in cheap motels."
"No identification documents, no driver's license, no registered address, no phone. He avoids credit cards and always pays in cash, leaving no trace behind—making him completely untraceable."
...
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